


Family of Distortion

by mia_marauder_potter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Belle Potter is actually Cassiopeia Black, Belle and Harry are twins, Cassiopeia Black is Hermione Granger, Cassiopeia just needs a reliable adult, F/M, I've written five different versions of this story lmao, but in my head she is, but she's also kind of an OC, it's complicated - Freeform, like dont get attached lmao, like not really, the Dursleys really suck, when i say major character death i mean it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:20:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 31
Words: 200,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28001544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mia_marauder_potter/pseuds/mia_marauder_potter
Summary: Crossposted. Harry and Belle Potter start Hogwarts and join Slytherin to make interesting friends and find out that their life, in many ways, did not go how it should've. Belle turns out to be Cassiopeia Black and Sirius's little sister. Can she get her family back and come out the other side of the war, or will she be drowned in the tragedy around her?
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy, Cassiopeia Black & Astoria Greengrass, Cassiopeia Black & Daphne Greengrass, Cassiopeia Black & Harry Potter, Cassiopeia Black & Regulus Black, Cassiopeia Black & Sirius Black, Daphne Greengrass/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Blaise Zabini, OC/Blaise Zabini
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. Magic

**July 21st, 1991**

**4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging**

“Give me that,” Belle hissed, snatching the bandage from her brother. Harry winced as the cut on his arm was wrapped up expertly. She was always better at patching them up, but he hadn’t wanted to get her in trouble by interrupting her chores. 

When she was finished, she shoved the package of bandages back under the loose floorboard and took a rag to his arm and then her own hands to clean up the small amount of blood that had fallen. 

“She’s trying to kill us,” Harry complained. “Something's going on.”

“I  _ know _ , Harry, but how do you suggest we figure it out? Uncle Vernon is on vacation. He’ll know if we do anything and then it’ll be even worse.”

Harry sighed deeply. “I know. I’m just sick of this. I wanna go back to school.”

Belle gave her brother a sympathetic smile. “Not long now. Just another month.”

* * *

**July 31st, 1991**

**The Island**

The letters had driven Vernon mad. He lost his mind that Sunday and took all of them to a cabin on a rock in the middle of the sea, insistent that no one would be able to reach them there. 

He was wrong. 

Belle poked Harry’s cheek. “Happy birthday, Harry.”

“Happy birthday, Belle,” he replied, bumping her shoulder with his own. “We’re eleven.”

A loud bang against the door startled the twins and they grabbed onto each other in fear as Dudley sat up, woken from his deep sleep. When the banging continued, Belle and Harry shot to their feet in fear, ready to run. They backed into a corner and Belle pushed him behind her, poking her head out the side to see what was happening while their aunt and uncle made their way down the stairs.

“Who’s there?” Vernon managed weakly, his shotgun pointed at the door. The door was thrown off its hinges and landed on the floor, revealing a giant man who stepped inside and looked around, an umbrella in his large hands. 

“Sorry about that,” the man said, tucking the umbrella into his jacket. He picked the heavy, wooden door up off the floor and slammed it into the doorframe again. 

“I demand that you leave at once, sir,” Vernon snapped, waving the gun a little. “You are breaking and entering!”

The man rolled his eyes and stalked over to him, bending the gun until it broke. “Dry up, Dursley, you great prune.” The gun went off and shot a hole in the ceiling, startling everyone. Harry stayed quiet but Belle let out a startled squeak, slapping a hand over her mouth when she did. “Oh, there you are! I haven’t seen the pair of you since you were babes!”

“You know us?” Belle managed slowly. Harry gripped her wrist tightly in his hand, prepared to pull her back behind him in defense. 

“Well, sure I do!” the man grinned. “I’ve got something for you. ‘Fraid I might’ve sat on it at some point, but I imagine it’ll taste just the same.” He pulled a box out of his jacket and Harry grabbed it from him, opening it with a frown. “Baked it myself, words and all!”

“It’s a… cake,” Belle said when Harry opened it. In the shaky green frosting, it said ‘Happee birthdae Harry and Belle.’ 

“Thank you,” Harry said, surprised by the sight. 

“Not every day you twins turn eleven, is it?” He grinned at them happily. 

“Who are you, sir?” Belle asked after a moment. 

“Rubeus Hagrid,” he answered easily. “Keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. Of course, you’ll know all about Hogwarts.”

“Sorry, no,” Harry shook his head, ignoring the glares he got from their aunt and uncle. 

Hagrid frowned, looking at them strangely. “No? Blimey, didn’t you ever wonder where your mum and dad learned it all?”

“Learned  _ what _ ?” Belle asked sharply, uncomfortable. 

“Magic,” he told them, looking between them. “You’re a witch and wizard.”

“I-I’m a what?” Harry breathed while Belle shook her head. 

“That’s impossible,” she said with a frown. “Magic doesn’t exist!” 

“It does, and I’d wager you’ll be great at it. Once you train up a little, that is.”

“It can’t be!”

“Well, did you ever make anything happen?” he asked her while Harry kept shaking his head in confusion. “Anything you couldn’t explain when you were angry or- or scared?”

“The snake,” Harry whispered softly to his sister, who froze, remembering the incident clearly. Hagrid stepped over to them and pulled out two letters and handed them over with a grin. Belle opened hers first, pleased to  _ finally _ know what they’d been sent. 

“Dear Miss Potter,” she read aloud as Harry opened his own. “We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”

“They will not be going!” Vernon said, ripping the letter out of her hands. “Neither of you! We swore when we took them in, we’d put a stop to all this rubbish!” 

“You  _ knew _ ?” Harry asked, horrified. “You knew all along and you never told us?”

“Of course, we knew,” Petunia scoffed, her arms crossed in disgust. “I mean, how could you not be? My  _ perfect _ sister being who she was. Oh… my mother and father were so  _ proud _ the day she got her letter. We have a witch in the family. Isn’t it wonderful? I was the only one who saw her for what she really was. A  _ freak _ . And then she met that Potter, and then she had you and I knew you’d be the same. You both look just like them both. I knew you’d be just as strange… just as abnormal. And then if you please, she went and got herself  _ blown up _ ! And we got landed with you. Twins! With no warning!”

“ _ Blown up _ ?” Harry yelled. 

“You said they died in a car crash,” Belle glared, just as angry as her brother. 

“A car crash?” Hagrid shouted, horrified by the lie. “A car crash killed Lily and James Potter?”

“We had to say something,” Petunia defended softly while Dudley grabbed the cake and snuck away with it. 

“It’s an outrage! It’s a scandal!”

“They will not be going,” Vernon said sharply, shaking his head. Hagrid laughed.

“And I suppose a great muggle like yourself is gonna stop them, are you?”

“Muggle?” Harry questioned, confused.

“Non-magic folk,” Hagrid answered offhandedly. “These kids have had their names down since they were born! They’re going to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry  _ and _ they will be under the finest Headmaster that Hogwarts has ever seen! Albus Dumbledore.”

He said the name with such reverence that they were inclined to believe him. 

“I’m not paying to have some crackpot old fool teach them magic tricks!” Vernon shouted, his eyes narrowed into slits. Hagrid pulled his umbrella out and pointed it at the man, furious. 

“Never insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me again,” he instructed, his eyes falling on Dudley, who was digging into the cake. He pointed the tip of the umbrella at him and a flash of light flew out and hit the boy in the butt, growing a tail that pushed out of his pajamas. 

Vernon and Petunia began screaming and it was only Belle’s hand over his mouth that kept Harry from laughing out loud. Hagrid leaned over to them, winking.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone at Hogwarts about that,” he said. “Strictly speaking, I’m not allowed to do magic.”

“Why?” Belle asked before she could stop herself. 

“We’re a bit behind schedule,” he said, ignoring her question as he looked at his pocket watch. “We’d best be off.”

Hagrid moved to the door and threw it to the ground again and Harry stood there, only moving when his sister shoved him forward.

* * *

**August 1st, 1991**

**Diagon Alley**

The group of three had stayed in the Three Broomsticks for the night after they’d portkeyed to London. Entering the Alley had been shocking to both of them. Magic was potent in the air, making Belle’s arms tingle. 

“First off is your robes,” Hagrid told them after they left Gringott’s. “I’ve got a few things to do while you’re in there, so I’ll leave you there.” 

“What do we need to get exactly?” Belle wondered as they approached Madame Malkins. 

“She’ll know,” he assured her with a grin. “Be back in an hour.”

With that, the twins were left alone. They made their way into the shop quietly and, luckily, it was mostly empty aside from a blonde boy being helped by the shop assistant. 

“What can I do for you dears?” 

“We need our school robes,” Belle answered Madame Malkins with a small smile. “We’re to be in our first year.”

“Of course,” she nodded. “I’ll just need your measurements. Who would like to go first?”

“She would,” Harry said, pushing Belle. She shot him a dirty look but walked up to the pedestal next to the blonde boy who looked her over in disgust. 

“A Weasley?” he asked her. She shook her head, watching in amazement as the measuring tape measured her. 

“I’m Belle Potter.”

“Oh,” he said, surprised. “You have red hair.”

“Um, yes, I do.”

“Everyone said it was black,” he explained slowly. She frowned at him.

“Should I know you?”

“Draco Malfoy,” he introduced, offering his hand. She took it, surprised when he kissed her knuckles. Still, she bowed her head. 

“Very nice to meet you. My brother, Harry, is around here somewhere, but he ran off upon hearing of measurements,” she rolled her eyes. 

“What House do you want to be in?” he asked curiously. 

“I did some reading last night,” she answered, thinking. “Slytherin, I believe. Or possibly Ravenclaw.”

“I feel the same,” he said with a nod and a small smile. “Gryffindor and Hufflepuff have too many muggleborns.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Well, they steal magic,” he answered her seriously, almost making her laugh. “They don’t even know about magic growing up, so they steal it when they find out.”

“So if someone doesn’t know about magic growing up, you think they then steal it.”

“Yes, of course. That’s what Father says. He also said they have mud in their blood.”

It took a great deal of restraint to keep from laughing. The only thing that stopped her was realizing how serious he was. “Draco, Harry and I weren’t told about magic until yesterday.”

“ _ Why _ ?”

“Because we were raised by our aunt and uncle, our mum’s family. They apparently hate magic.”

“But you’re a half-blood. It’s different for you.”

“But you think my mum stole her magic?”

“How else would she get it?” he shot back, uncomfortable. He clearly didn’t want to offend her but she was questioning his beliefs, something that he did  _ not _ like. 

“Maybe it’s in her genes,” she suggested. “I did a lot of reading last night because I couldn’t sleep. Squibs are people who were born to magic but didn’t have any, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“So, what if there’s a squib deep in our ancestry and the magic just resurfaced in my mum?”

Draco stared at her, confused. “What about the mud?”

“Well, that’s just ridiculous,” she admitted. “If our mum had mud in her blood, she’d have been dead a lot sooner than she was. We need blood to live, Draco.”

“But my father said-,”

“And our aunt and uncle said magic isn’t real,” she shrugged. “Sometimes people lie about reality to achieve the truths they want.”

“Belle,” Harry called from the back of the store, gathering her attention. “They have shoelaces that tie themselves!” 

“Magic, Harry,” she laughed softly, though she was intrigued. 

“You really didn’t know about it,” Draco said softly, amazed. Belle nodded, watching Harry make his way back over to her. 

“Nope.”

“Would you and your brother like to sit with my friends and I on the train?” he asked her. She grinned and nodded, happy to have already made a friend. 

“I’d love that.”

* * *

The bookstore was large and smelled like old books and tea. Belle thought it was possibly the most beautiful place she’d ever been to and when Hagrid told them they could each have thirty minutes in the store of their choosing, she decided to stay there while Harry went next door to the Quidditch supply shop. 

To her surprise, there were both magical and muggle books. She’d read up on the money system and knew that they really did have a lot of money. More than she could comprehend, honestly, because she knew they’d just gone to their school vault that held money for their school tuition, school supplies, and spending money. It also held their parents’ old school things, some of which she’d begged Hagrid to let her take. 

She’d found a couple of old, enchanted trunks, which saved them a trip to the trunk store. Aside from that, there was a small bag with an undetectable extension charm - something she hoped was exactly what it sounded like - that she’d taken as well. Harry had grabbed a few notebooks with their mum’s name on it that held notes for their first year and had been content to move on. 

“That’s all lies.”

Belle jumped and turned around, dropping the book she was holding to the ground. “What?”

The boy picked it up and handed it back with a kind smile. “Gilderoy Lockhart doesn’t do any of the things he writes about in those books. They’re not very factual.”

“Really?” she frowned down at the book, disgusted. “Shouldn’t that be illegal?”

“No one has cared so far,” he shrugged. His curly, dark brown hair fell into his face and hung around his sharp blue eyes.

“That’s horrible,” she muttered, putting the book back on the shelf. “Thank you for letting me know. I’m Belle.”

“Theo Nott,” he introduced. She offered her hand and was less surprised this time when he kissed it. “Are you going to be going to Hogwarts?”

“Yes, I am. My brother and I will be in our first year.”

“So will I,” he smiled kindly, a smile she returned easily. “Maybe I’ll see you on the train.”

“A boy named Draco Malfoy invited us to sit with him,” she said. “You could join us if you’d like.”

He looked at her in surprise. “Aren’t you a Weasley?”

“No,” she frowned. “He thought so, too. I’m Belle Potter.”

“A Potter twin,” he realized slowly. “Everyone said you had black hair.”

“That’s what Draco said,” she shook her head. “But why would anyone know about me? Harry and I were raised in the muggle world. We didn’t even know about magic or anything until last night.”

“Oh,” Theo breathed, surprised. “Everyone knows you because you guys supposedly ended a war.”

Belle scoffed. “Well, I don’t remember doing anything like that.”

“Belle, I got a- oh,” Harry stopped at the sight of Theo. “You’re talking to a lot of people,” he complained.

“Two,” she answered shortly. “Shush. What are you talking about, Theo?”

“There was a war when we were young,” he said slowly. “Led by a man named- he went by the Dark Lord or You-Know-Who.”

“But what was his  _ name _ ?”

“No one likes to say it.”

“Why?” 

Harry stood close to her, unsettled by the conversation. 

“It scares them,” Theo said softly, looking around. When he spotted his father at the front of the store, he dropped his voice to a whisper. “His name was Voldemort.”

“What a ridiculous name,” Harry muttered, making Theo laugh, startled. 

“He was after your parents. He killed them and tried to kill you guys and when he couldn’t, he died.”

“And everyone thinks  _ we _ killed him?” Belle asked. When Theo nodded, she rolled her eyes. “That’s ridiculous. We were  _ babies _ .”

“This man killed our parents?” Harry asked, frowning when the boy nodded. 

“This is a depressing conversation,” Belle commented. “Although that man lying about his books is somewhat depressing as well.”

“You’re not more curious about this guy that killed mum and dad?” Harry asked, astounded at her brushing it off. 

“Hagrid told us yesterday that they were killed,” she answered slowly. “And he’s dead, right?”

“That’s what everyone says,” Theo shrugged, looking uncertain. She nearly asked him about it but spotted a man step behind him and place his hand on his shoulder. She kept her face carefully blank when she noticed him flinch at the touch. A familiar feeling she’d felt only a few times before settled in her, making her nervous. 

“Theodore,” the man said. “Who are your friends?”

“This is Belle and Harry Potter,” he introduced reluctantly. “We were discussing Gilderoy Lockhart.”

The man’s eyes lit up for only a moment before he nodded. “Would your friends like to come for dinner?” 

Theo looked at Belle, considering her for a moment before he gave her a smile that felt less genuine than his earlier smile. “I’d love if you could come.”

“Don’t we have to get home?” Harry asked. Belle shook her head slowly. 

“We’re supposed to stay here until school,” she informed him. The decision had been made by Petunia, who said she didn’t want to see Belle specifically because she reminded her too much of Lily’s freakishness, especially since she was now going to school. “We’d love to come, thank you, sir.”

“Then feel free to stay with us until school,” he offered. She noted the way Theo’s lips thinned slightly and considered it. Something was wrong and she didn’t think it was that Theo didn’t like them or want them around, she thought that it was about his father. If that was the case, then their presence might be helpful in whatever situation it was. “Theodore’s friend, Blaise Zabini, is staying as well.”

Harry and Belle exchanged a long look before nodding quietly together. 

“Thank you, sir.”

“We still have more shopping to do,” Harry pointed out. “We don’t have our wands.”

Belle spotted Hagrid outside the store and gawked at the sight. He had two cages in hand, one with an owl and one with a ruffled looking orange cat. 

“Merlin,” she breathed. Harry followed her gaze and stared as well. 

“Is that an  _ owl _ ?” 

“Our thirty minutes is up,” she pointed out. “Is there somewhere we can meet you when we’re done?”

“We’ll wait in the Leaky Cauldron,” Theo’s father offered with a surprisingly convincing smile. They said their goodbyes and, after paying for the books she’d grabbed, she pulled her brother out of the shop and to Hagrid, who was waiting for them. 

“Happy birthday!” he exclaimed, handing them each a cage. Harry was handed the cat and Belle the owl, but she switched, knowing fully well that he hated cats. “They’re magical creatures. Owl is smart and the cat is a kneazle, a magical cat.”

“Thank you so much,” Belle smiled as they made their way across the street and down a little bit to Ollivander’s. “You didn’t have to get us animals.”

“What’ll you name them?” he wondered, waving her off. 

“Hedwig,” Harry decided firmly. Belle stared at the cat and hummed softly. 

“Icarus.”

“What sort of name is that?” Harry asked, making a face. Belle rolled her eyes at him. 

“Greek mythology, Harry. Didn’t you pay attention in school?”

“Honestly, no.”

“I’ll wait out here for you both,” Hagrid told them, waving them into the shop. Harry went in first and Belle paused. 

“Hagrid, we’ve made a friend. His name is Theo and his father invited us to stay with them for the remainder of the summer. We’ve agreed, so we’re going to meet them at the Leaky Cauldron when we’re done.”

“I don’t know, Belle… what did you say their last name was?”

“Nott,” she said, remembering it after a moment. 

“That man is nasty,” he warned her. She nodded a little.

“I thought maybe,” she agreed. “But Theo is nice. I want to make sure he’s okay.”

“You’re a kind girl, Belle,” he told her with a soft smile. “Okay. But you write to me every few days and let me know if you’re okay.”

“I will.”

“Now go on,” he waved her inside. She went just in time to see Harry holding a wand. When he waved it, boxes flew off shelves and she ducked to avoid being hit with one. 

“No, no, definitely not,” Ollivander muttered, plucking the wand from Harry’s hands and putting it away. “I wonder…”

“How’s it going?” Belle asked as they watched the old man grab another one. 

“Badly,” he muttered, making a face. “You tell Hagrid?”

“Mmhm. He told me Theo’s dad is awful.”

“So are we not going?” Harry asked, deflating a little. She shook her head. 

“No, we are. I thought he might be.”

“ _ Why _ ?”

“Cause Theo flinched when his dad touched him,” she said as if it was obvious. She didn’t want to tell him about the feeling she’d had until they were in private. Harry’s lips opened into an ‘o’ shape and Ollivander presented him with a box. 

“Try  _ this _ .”

That time, the shop glowed lightly and a magical wind picked up, indicating he had the correct wand. 

“Interesting… very interesting,” Ollivander commented. His eyes slid to Belle. “And you, my dear?”

“I need a wand as well,” she said with a polite smile. “Does it always light up like that?”

“It is different for everyone,” he denied, looking her over for a moment before he grabbed a box and handed her the wand. When she waved it, a window cracked sharply, making both kids wince. It was another four wands before she found the right one, a wand with flowery vines running up to meet a set of runes that went up to the top. “12 ½ inch acacia. Phoenix feather core and quite bendy flexibility.”

The twins paid quickly and pocketed their wands, leaving the shop quickly. 

“He was weird,” Harry complained lightly as they were led back to the Leaky Cauldron by Hagrid, who stopped outside. 

“This is where I leave you,” he told them with a proud smile. He’d shrunk down all of their things for them to fit into Belle’s bag, leaving them with only their animals to carry. “Write to me and remember not to be late."

“We will, I promise,” Belle assured him, hugging him quickly. Harry did the same and the twins rushed inside to spot the pair they were looking for, making their way through the crowd to meet them at their table.

“You have your wands?” Theo asked with a small smile. They nodded and Harry pulled his out to show it to him. 

“Do you have your school things?” Harry asked. 

“I got the last of it today,” he confirmed. 

Belle smiled at his father, though she frowned when she felt a sharp pain in her head again and grabbed it. “Ow.”

“What?” Harry asked, putting a hand on her back in concern. “What is it?”

“My head,” she muttered softly. “It just… I’m fine, there was just a sharp pain. Headache, I guess.”

“Probably overwhelmed from the day,” Theo’s father suggested. “Why don’t we get back?”

“Yes, thank you,” she smiled hesitantly. For some reason, she felt like it was him that had caused the pain, especially considering how familiar it was. She wasn’t sure  _ why _ it happened, though. Still, the thought stayed with her as they used something called a floo and went to their home. When they stepped out of the fireplace, they were met with the sight of a beautiful and large room decorated in white and gold. “Your home is beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Theo’s father nodded before looking to his son. “Show them to their rooms.”

“Yes, sir,” Theo replied, waving them along out of the room. They were quiet as they walked up two flights of stairs and down a couple of halls, only speaking when he led them into a large bedroom. “There’s this room and the one to the right. Blaise is on the left and I’m across the hall.”

“Thank you,” Harry said with a smile. “I know you don’t really know us.”

“Father wants me to befriend you,” Theo explained, surprising them. “Your family used to be very powerful and it will be again when you take over, so he wants to ensure an alliance.”

“Oh,” Belle breathed. “That makes sense.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d be happy to be friends,” he assured her. “Father just wants to make sure you’re… aligned to the right like we are. I assume so.”

“Why?” Harry frowned, confused. He’d never paid attention to muggle politics, so he didn’t know anything about politics in general. Belle, however, had been fascinated by the subject. 

Theo nodded at Belle. “You befriended Draco. He believes in blood purity.”

Belle screwed up her face. “Yeah, he told me. I told him that it was ridiculous and why.”

“And he didn’t get all red and confused?”

“Confused, sure,” she agreed. “But he seemed to understand what I was saying.”

“That is… incredible,” Theo shook his head, surprised. “His father is one of the worst, almost as bad as my own.”

“You don’t agree with that stuff, do you?” she asked, worried. His eyes widened a little.

“No,” he assured her. “Father thinks so but I don’t. I suggest you pretend to as well.”

“What’s blood purity?” Harry asked with a confused frown. 

“Mum was born to muggles, making her a muggleborn,” Belle explained. “Draco thought that it meant she stole her magic and had mud in her veins. I told him why that’s impossible.”

“Blood purity means excluding muggleborns and some half-bloods,” Theo added. “Getting rid of them. That’s what the war was about, actually.”

“Hey, Nott, are you talking to yourself- oh.”

“Blaise,” Theo rolled his eyes as the tan, dark haired boy stopped in the door to stare at them. His dark brown eyes fell on the Potter twins. “This is Belle and Harry Potter. Father invited them to stay until school.”

“Oof,” Blaise winced. “Sucks.”

“No, it’s fine,” Theo waved him off. “They didn’t even know about magic until yesterday.”

“Damn, they move to prejudice quick.”

“No, they’re not- they’re not like that,” Theo laughed shortly. “And she might’ve even fixed Draco.”

“ _ Fixed _ Malfoy?” Blaise snorted. “No way.”

“I guess we’ll find out in a month.”

* * *

That night, Harry slipped from his bed and into Belle’s room, getting into bed with her quietly. “Hey, wake up.”

“I’m not asleep,” she told him softly. 

“Do you think this is all real? We’re not with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and Dudley,” he whispered, intertwining their fingers. 

“It doesn’t feel real,” Belle agreed, closing her eyes again. “Magic feels more real than this. Still, I’m… Lord Nott is… there’s something about him.”

“Is this like one of your feelings?” Harry asked, worried. “The last person you said that about tried to push me in front of a bus, Belle.”

“I think it is,” she sighed. “I don’t know. I was just worried in the bookstore at first but I got so anxious and my head hurt so bad, just like the other times.”

“You really wanna stay here if you’re worried?” he asked reluctantly. She nodded a little. 

“Yeah, I don’t think he’d  _ do _ anything. Blaise seems perfectly relaxed here. If something  _ does _ happen, we can go back to the Leaky Cauldron or something.”

“Okay. We just have to be careful, I guess. Like always.”

“I guess so.”

* * *

**August 6th, 1991**

**Nott Manor**

“Where is everyone?” Blaise asked, walking into the dining room, still in his pajamas. 

“Harry is still sleeping,” Belle rolled her eyes. “He was up late reading that stupid book you gave him.”

“Hey, that’s not stupid,” Blaise defended, sitting down next to her. It was a large table, so they tended to sit close together. “Quidditch history is important, Potter!” 

“And Theo is at the Wizengamot with Lord Nott,” she continued, making a face at him. “Just us for now.”

“Harry’s gonna miss breakfast if he doesn’t get up soon,” Blaise muttered as he took a bite of his sausage. “Why didn’t you wake him up?”

Belle let out a laugh and took a sip of her tea. “Waking him up is a difficult task lately. You’re free to try if you’d like to, but I figure it’s better to let him sleep. We never really get to sleep in at home, so it’s nice.”

“Why?” he asked offhandedly. He was pushing his eggs around on his plate, looking totally disinterested in them. Staring at his plate, he missed Belle tensing a little as well as the way she forced herself to relax. She was well aware their childhood wasn’t a normal one - the few friends she’d had at school had told her as much. Still, she couldn’t quite help the way she reacted to questions about their home life. 

“The day starts early there,” she answered quietly, focusing back on her tea. She’d already finished eating and she quickly drank down the rest of her tea. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to go read.”

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Blaise asked, looking up in time to see her frowning as she walked past him. He was a surprisingly sensitive person when he was paying attention or cared, making him a good friend for Theo, who was much the same. 

“Nothing, I think I’m just a little tired still,” she offered him a smile. “If you’ll excuse me…”

“Sure.”

* * *

“What’s wrong with them?”

Theo dropped his outer robes in surprise and glared at his friend as he picked them up. “What are you talking about?” 

“There’s something wrong with them,” Blaise answered him seriously, following Theo into his bedroom. “What is it? Why’d you invite them here?”

“For the same reason I told you,” Theo said after a moment. “Father invited them. What’s going on? Did something happen?”

Blaise nodded and plopped down into the chair across from Theo, tapping his fingers absently on the table. “Yeah, Belle was weird about her home life.”

“Maybe she didn’t want your nosy questions,” Theo suggested tiredly. “Not everyone is messed up. You don’t need to fix everyone, Blaise.”

“I’m serious,” he said, his lips thinning. “We were eating- er, I was eating and she was drinking her tea. She said Harry was sleeping in and she didn’t want to wake him because they never got to sleep in at home. When I asked her why, she got all weird and left the room.”

“You were at breakfast,” Theo tried. “So you were probably just tired. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Merlin, Nott, don’t you want to know? What if there  _ is _ something wrong with them? Didn’t you say they didn’t know about magic until last  _ week _ ?”

Theo hesitated. “Even if there’s something going on, we can’t do anything. Neither of our families are related to them in the least and Dumbledore placed them with their family.”

“So you don’t even want to  _ know _ ?”

“Know what?” 

“Shit,” Blaise cursed loudly, jumping at Harry’s voice. “You’re quiet.”

“Want to know what?” Harry asked again, looking abnormally guarded. The two friends exchanged a look and, before Theo could stop him, Blaise spoke. 

“Things aren’t good at home for you.” He said it as a statement, something which got a much better reaction than a question would’ve. Harry first looked defensive, but moments later, his shoulders sagged and he just looked a bit tired. “I  _ told you _ ."

“I don’t think now is the time for an ‘I told you so,’” Theo snapped at Blaise, sighing. “What is it, Harry?” 

“How did you know?”

“Belle was weird at breakfast,” Blaise explained easily. “Straight up walked out of the room when I asked about your home life.”

“Well don’t tell her that’s why you know,” Harry winced. “She’d be so upset.”

“But what… shit, how do you ask someone about this shit?”

“Stop cursing,” Theo smacked Blaise’s arm. “I don’t know.”

“Well it’s not like I’m going to  _ tell you about it _ ,” Harry made a face at them. “I mean, we’re fine.”

“So fine that she’s gotta leave the room?” Blaise wondered before pausing. “Wait, that raises an interesting question. Why would your guardians let you stay with a stranger for a month before not seeing you until Christmas?”

“They kind of hate us,” Belle said from the door, making all three boys jump. She was scowling and glaring at her brother. “What did you say?”

“Nothing!”

“Why would they hate you?” Theo asked gently. 

“I look too much like our mum and Harry looks too much like our dad,” she answered easily. “They hate magic which I’m starting to think was actually why they’ve hated us so much all our lives. They think we’re freaks.”

“That’s  _ horrible _ ,” Blaise told them with wide eyes. “Magic doesn’t make you a freak.”

“Try telling them that,” Harry muttered. 

“But wait, they just handed you over to Lord Nott in the middle of Diagon Alley?”

“No, of course not,” Belle replied. “They didn’t take us, Hagrid did. They told us basically not to come back and when Hagrid said we had to, they said not to come home until summer.”

“That’s horrible,” Theo told her. 

“It’s not like we’re bothered by it,” Harry pointed out. “We don’t want to be there even more than they don’t want us there.”

“Is that why you came?” Theo asked Belle quietly. If she and Harry endured abuse, they were much more likely to spot abuse in others, something he knew because he’d done it before, too. She nodded a little.

“You flinched when he touched your shoulder. I thought maybe whatever was going on would be better with strangers around. I think I make him uncomfortable or something, that’s why I’ve been spending so much time with you.”

“Shit, you’re perceptive,” Blaise told her while Theo cringed. “No one makes Lord Nott uncomfortable, though.”

“No, she does,” Theo confirmed. “I don’t know why.”

“My head hurts every time I’m around him,” Belle added. “I’m very okay with avoiding him.”

“That’s just weird.”

“Not for her,” Harry shook his head. “We met this guy, Trevor or something-,”

“Travers,” Belle corrected.

“-and he tried to shove me into a bus. Belle had a weird feeling about him before and got a headache then, too.”

“Travers,” Blaise frowned. “That’s an old family. My mother tried to get him to court her once. What’s he look like?”

“Kinda short, skinny, brown hair,” Harry answered. Theo and Blaise shared a look.

“You’re saying Travers tried to murder you and he gave Belle a headache,” Theo summarized. “And my father gives her a headache.”

“Sounds like Death Eaters give her a headache,” Blaise snickered, earning himself a confused look from the twins. “Death Eaters were the Dark Lords followers. Theo’s dad was one of his right hand men as well as Lucius Malfoy, Draco’s dad.”

“And this man, Travers, he was a Death Eater?” Belle asked softly. At their nods, she shook her head. “It’s happened more than just with them. A woman tried to drown me at the public pool when we were three and about an hour earlier, I got a bad headache and got really anxious, the same with the others.”

“Okay, well, what did she look like?” 

“Um… black hair, grey eyes… she jumped into the pool fully clothed in this weird black dress and shoved me underwater,” Belle answered, squeezing Harry’s hand. They were both uncomfortable even thinking about the times they’d nearly been killed by strangers. 

“ _ Merlin _ ,” Blaise said loudly. 

“It can’t be,” Theo shook his head quickly. “She’s in Azkaban, Blaise.”

“They were  _ three _ ,” Blaise pointed out. “She wasn’t in Azkaban then.”

“Who?” Harry asked, looking between them. 

“Bellatrix Lestrange,” Blaise answered him. “Famously a Death Eater. She was really close with the Dark Lord. Obsessed with him, according to my mum. She’s always been proud of the side of the war she fought on, even when she was arrested five years after it ended.”

“You guys don’t actually think I head a headache around Death Eaters, do you?” Belle asked, uncomfortable. “How would that even work? I don’t know them. Maybe I just get anxious because they seem dark.”

“Bellatrix, sure,” Theo nodded. “But Travers and my father are good at hiding it. You don’t get the same thing, Harry?”

“Nope,” he shook his head. “Just Belle.”

Blaise let out a laugh. “I think she’s allergic to Death Eaters!”

* * *

**August 16th, 1991**

**Greengrass Manor**

“So why are there four of you again?” Astoria asked. “There were definitely two of you last time you came over.”

“Harry and Belle are staying with us,” Theo explained as they walked into the large room to find Blaise and Daphne with their wands out. “What- what are you guys  _ doing _ ?”

“Magic,” Daphne said, rolling her eyes. She cast a spell and grinned when it hit Harry, flattening his messy hair. “That’s one Mum taught Story and I years ago.”

“I thought we’re not allowed to do magic outside of school,” Belle commented in confusion. “Aren’t you going to get in trouble for that?”

“Not at all,” Daphne waved her off, putting away her wand. “For one, we’re an Ancient and Noble House. No one would touch us for a little underage magic. But also, they can only monitor the area where an underage person is, so if there’s magic in the area of a magical adult and child, they’d have no way to know who cast it. We’re fine here.”

“You’re fine in Nott Manor, too,” Blaise added. “We grew up learning magic so we already know plenty.”

“Really?” Harry asked, his mouth hanging open in surprise. 

“My mother used to give us lessons every day,” Theo confirmed softly, coming to sit with his friends. “Father didn’t want to continue when she died, but we still practice every once in a while."

“Can you teach us something?” Belle asked, excited. 

That was how the six of them found themselves spending the afternoon casting whatever spells they knew, and by the time they returned to Nott Manor, they’d learned a great deal. It was one of the best days they’d had there so far, and the use of magic had exhausted them, letting them have a restful night of sleep. 

* * *

**August 28th, 1991**

**Nott Manor**

Belle was well and truly annoyed with the boys. It was hard to be annoyed with anyone other than maybe Blaise, though she was never really upset with him. Still, all three of them had bothered her all month to play Quidditch with them. It had led to her getting so annoyed and upset that her hair had begun sparking, surprising all of them. They’d backed off then, and she’d been allowed to make her way to the library while they played. 

When she stepped into the huge library, she settled her eyes on the book she’d left in there earlier that day. It was on the table by the door, and she picked it up and made her way to the second floor to find a place to sit. 

“Miss Potter.”

Belle tensed and, after a moment of trying to relax, she turned to face him. The same deep anxiety and headache hit her and she had to force herself to smile politely. “Lord Nott. I didn’t mean to bother you.”

“It has been a while since I’ve seen anyone’s hair spark,” he told her, ignoring her apology. “An old friend of mine’s hair would spark whenever she was angry.”

“I’m not- I just don’t want to get on a broom,” she explained carefully. “Heights scare me.”

“Brooms are very safe if you take proper precautions,” he assured her. “I apologize. Your hair only startled me. I haven’t seen that since the Black family was active.”

“Who?”

“The Black family,” he repeated. “They used to be the most powerful magical family, only seconded by your family. They died out, one way or another. The last ones alive are either disowned or in Azkaban.”

“How did they die out?” she asked, reluctantly curious. 

“Well, their Head of House died only a few months ago. The last daughter of the House is in Azkaban. Their heir is, as well, in fact for getting your parents killed.”

“ _ What _ ?”

“I apologize,” he bowed his head. “I do not mean to upset you. I take it you do not know of your godfather, Sirius Black?”

“No. I didn’t even know we had a godfather. We weren’t told much about our family at all, actually.”

“Well, Sirius was good friends with your father, James, all through school. The tale is actually quite well known by those that knew what was going on at the time. Everyone thought Black had refused the Dark Lord - his cousin Bellatrix even tortured him for it.”

Belle remembered the name and specifically that she’d been told it was Bellatrix who had tried to kill her. It took a lot of focus to prevent the shiver that tried to sneak up on her. “What changed?”

“No one knows,” Lord Nott admitted. “I personally believe it might have had to do with his brother and sister.”

“Why?”

“His brother, Regulus, was a year younger than him-,”

Belle gasped as  _ something _ sparked in her mind, something that made that anxiety in her strengthen. She itched to get to something, but she didn’t know how or what. The magic in her shifted as if anticipating or preparing, and she winced at the uncomfortable feeling. 

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m sorry,” she shook herself, lying. “I must be cold. Please continue.”

“His brother was a Death Eater,” Lord Nott said bluntly. “He fell out of favor with the Dark Lord and, ultimately, died. After that, the Dark Lord made it clear he wanted their sister, Cassiopeia, in return for the loss of Regulus. I believe Sirius may have traded himself instead. It was no secret how deeply they both loved her. She was a baby when Regulus died, though she died just a few days after him.”

“And you think, in between their deaths, Sirius offered himself?” she asked, feeling for some reason like it wasn’t right. 

“I do. Sirius kept the secret of your parents’ hideout, a difficult bit of magic that Albus Dumbledore confirmed that they’d cast. Sirius gave the location to the Dark Lord, which got them killed.”

“And got him killed, too,” Belle reminded him softly. She didn’t miss the way his jaw tightened.

“Yes, it did.”

“So Sirius went to prison for that,” she said, getting him back to the point. “And their Head of House died. What happened to everyone else?”

“Narcissa married Lucius Malfoy,” he told her slowly. “Sirius’s parents died as well. Bellatrix Lestrange is in Azkaban as I said, and one of her sisters was disowned for marrying a muggleborn and having a child. The House will only return when Draco Malfoy becomes of age and can claim Lordship.”

“Because… his mother was a Black,” Belle summarized with a slight frown. “Draco is all that’s left?”

“Sirius had no children of his own, nor did Bellatrix. Unless something changes, Draco will be Lord Black one day.”

“Fascinating.”

* * *


	2. Hogwarts

**September 1st, 1991**

**Kings’ Cross Station**

“I  _ really _ don’t want to.”

“Come on, we have to prove our theory correct,” Blaise complained, dragging her down the hall. “He probably wants to meet you, anyway.”

“Okay, but I don’t want to,” Belle repeated, looking back to glare at Theo and Harry, who had abandoned her in favor of finding them a compartment with Daphne, who had gotten there at the same time as them. “Blaise- ow!” 

“We were right!” 

“No, you prat, you’re hurting my hand,” she snapped, tugging it away from him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders instead and continued pulling her off of the train until they reached the Malfoys. He stared directly at her and grinned victoriously when she winced, feeling the anxiety and headache come on strong. 

“Lord Malfoy,” Blaise greeted politely. “Lady Malfoy.”

“Hello, Blaise,” Lady Malfoy smiled softly. “Who is your friend?”

“Belle,” Draco nodded with a bit of a smile. “You know Blaise?”

“They stayed with us for the last month,” Blaise explained. “Will you be sitting with us? Belle said you invited her to.”

“Of course,” Draco nodded when his father gave him a stern look. 

“Well, why don’t you get on the train?” his mother suggested with a soft smile. “Remember to write us tonight, Draco.”

“I will,” he assured them. He hugged his mother and nodded at his father before following Blaise, who was basically a ball of pure energy, onto the train. They only walked a few compartments down before they spotted their friends. 

“So?” Theo asked, looking between them.

“We were right!” Blaise grinned. When Belle gave him a dirty look, he coughed. “Very sad, of course, but we were right.”

“About what?” Draco questioned, sitting down next to Theo. Belle took her spot in between Harry and Daphne, and Blaise sat on Theo’s other side. 

“Nothing.”

“Death Eaters give her a headache!” 

“ _ Blaise _ .”

“Excuse me?” Draco asked after a moment, his eyes falling on the girl in question. “What does he mean?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I’ve had a few weird encounters and they’ve come to the conclusion that I’m allergic to Death Eaters.”

“But like how can you tell?” Daphne wondered. “How does that work?”

“We don’t know,” Harry answered. 

“I still think it’s ridiculous,” Belle stated clearly. “Maybe I just have good intuition.”

“Nah, it’s magic,” Blaise assured her. 

“Theo,” Belle sighed. “You know how ridiculous this is.”

“I mean, you get anxious and get a headache every time you’re around my dad,” he pointed out with an apologetic smile. “And those things with Travers and Bellatrix-,”

“Aunt Bellatrix?” Draco asked, still confused. “Potter, what are they talking about?”

“Okay,” she sighed, shooting a glare at Blaise. “So when Harry and I were three, we were at a public pool with our friends and there was this woman there with this crazy black, curly hair and grey eyes. When I looked at her, I got so anxious I felt sick and I got this horrible headache. A little later, she tried to drown me.”

“Death Eater number one,” Blaise counted, ignoring the dirty look he got for it. 

“Then a few years ago, a man tried to push me in front of a bus,” Harry added. “She got the same headache and feeling then, too.”

“Death Eater number two.”

“And then when I met Lord Nott, it came back,” she continued. “And it happens every time I’m around him. It gets worse when we’re alone talking, though that only happened the once on accident.”

“Death Eater number three,” Blaise said. “And then your dad just now, Death Eater number four.”

“Merlin,” Daphne shook her head. “You’re allergic to Death Eaters!” 

“Is no one going to question why Death Eaters tried to kill them?” Draco wondered with a deep frown.

“Draco… Harry supposedly killed the Dark Lord,” Theo told him like he was stupid. “Don’t you think that just maybe some of his followers are a little pissed about that?”

“Oh. But how can you be allergic to them?” 

“I don’t think she’s allergic,” Theo told them, rolling his eyes at Blaise. “I think it’s some form of mind magic, maybe. Some sort of Seer.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Belle said. “You can’t see the future, Theo.”

“Then how do you know about Death Eaters? How did you know about them before you even knew they existed?”

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “But it isn’t seeing the future.” 

* * *

“Have you seen my toad?”

“...what?” 

The frazzled boy looked around the compartment in panic. “My toad, Trevor. He’s gone missing.”

“There’s no toad in here, Longbottom,” Draco rolled his eyes. Belle’s lips thinned but she offered the boy a smile. 

“He isn’t here but I’ll help you look. I’m Belle.”

“Hey, bring me back a pumpkin juice,” Blaise requested. She took the money for him and slipped out of the compartment after the boy, who had introduced himself as Neville. They split up, Neville going to the right and Belle to the left. 

She searched three empty compartments before she found one with three boys in it and slid the door open with a soft knock. “Hello. You haven’t seen a toad, have you? A boy’s lost one."

“Not here,” one of them, a blonde boy, told her. “He was sitting with us when he lost it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she smiled and went to close the door before her eyes caught on a head of bright orange hair. “You don’t happen to be a Weasley, do you?”

“Ron Weasley,” he introduced curiously. 

“I’m Belle Potter,” she told him. “I was mistaken as a Weasley sibling a few times.”

“Your hair is red, his is orange,” the blonde boy pointed out. The other boy rolled his eyes. 

“She probably knows that, Seamus.”

“And what if she didn’t, Dean?”

“Er, nice to meet you,” Ron said before pausing. “Belle Potter… Merlin, you’re Belle Potter! Where’s Harry?”

Belle shifted, uncomfortable with the interaction. She hated that everyone knew who she was already. “He’s with our friends. I’d better keep looking for the toad, so…”

With that, she slid the door shut and rushed off, glancing in a few compartments before opening another one. There were only two boys in there and they were both a bit overweight and made her uncomfortable.

“Hello, have you seen a toad? A boy’s lost one.”

“Who’re you?” one of the boys asked, looking her over in disgust.

“I’m just looking for a toad,” she said, unwilling to go through the same awkward conversation. “But I see there isn’t one here, so I’ll be going.”

It was when she turned to leave the compartment that the other boy grabbed her wrist and tugged her back. She felt a pop in the wrist and bit down on her tongue like she did anytime she was injured.

“Don’t be  _ rude _ ,” he told her with a slimy grin. “Not to your superiors.”

“My  _ superiors _ ?” she asked, shocked. She tore her hand out of his grip hard and sucked in a short breath when the pain bloomed from her wrist up her arm a little. “You’re students, just like me. Not my superiors."

“We’re  _ purebloods _ ,” the first boy clarified. “You’re just a half-blood.”

Belle turned on her heel to leave and gasped when this time, they grabbed her by her hair and tugged her back. The strength with which they pulled her made her gasp and grab onto the wall to keep from falling, lighting up her wrist with the hot pain. “Let me leave.”

“You’re disrespecting us,” the second boy said. “Isn’t that right, Crabbe?”

“It is, Goyle,” Crabbe confirmed. “We don’t want to take offense to that. You should apologize.”

“All I did was refuse to tell you my name. You already seem to know who I am,” she told them with a glare. “Let me go or I will scream.” 

Reluctantly, Goyle released her hair, and she backed out of the compartment quickly, barely catching the threatening tone but missing the words. She rushed down the train and when she got to her compartment, she slammed the door closed behind her and took her seat, biting her lip hard. 

“ _ Merlin _ , what happened to you?” Daphne asked in concern at the sight of her lightly shaking form and her newly messy hair. 

“I fell,” she answered. Harry’s eyes sharpened on her, fully aware she was lying.

“Belle, what was it?” he asked her quietly. “What happened?”

“I just met some boys,” she said, avoiding eye contact. “It’s fine.”

Daphne touched her hand in concern and Belle pulled it back against her chest with a gasp, surprised at how badly it hurt. “ _ Belle _ .”

“What happened to you?” Theo asked her. His dark, concerned eyes made her waver and eventually sigh. 

“I walked in to ask them if they’d seen the toad and when I wouldn’t tell them my name and tried to leave, one of them grabbed my wrist and pulled me in. It might be sprained or broken, I’m not sure. It feels like a sprain."

“And the hair?” Blaise asked quietly. She was surprised by the heated anger in his eyes. 

“They grabbed my hair after that. I threatened to scream and they let me leave. I don’t even know why they wanted me to answer them. They already knew who I was. Apparently, I disrespected them. They said they’re my superiors because they’re purebloods.”

“Do you know who it was?” Harry asked, keeping his voice as steady as possible. 

“I don’t know. They called each other Crabbe and Goyle.”

The purebloods all looked at Draco, whose eyes flashed angrily. “You’re sure?”

“Um, yes?”

“Even those fools know better!” he said sharply, jumping out of his seat. 

“I don’t understand, you know them?”

“They’ve been friends since they were really young,” Theo answered her. “I’m surprised you’re not sitting with them, actually.”

“I can’t believe they’d do that,” Draco muttered. Belle was surprised when he took her hand gently within his own and waved his wand over it, muttering quietly. Some of the pain abated and she felt her shoulders relax. “That should help until we get to school and you can get it checked out."

“Thank you,” she blinked. 

“I bet their fathers put them up to it,” Daphne suggested. “They’d never be willing to align themselves with you guys regardless of how prejudiced you were. Their parents are some of the angrier ones about the Dark Lord’s death.”

“I didn’t get the pumpkin juice,” Belle muttered after a short, uncomfortable moment. She slipped out before they could stop her and it was Harry that stopped Blaise from following her in concern.

“She doesn’t like to be worried about,” he told him. “Just leave her. She’ll be okay.”

“This is shit,” Blaise decided. No one disagreed with him in the slightest. 

* * *

**Hogwarts**

The six friends went on the same boat and Theo nearly shoved Blaise off when he started rocking it side to side to scare them. Daphne and Harry wouldn’t have minded shoving the boy off the boat either. It was only the intervention of Belle and Draco that stopped their friend from going for an unexpected swim in the chilly water. 

“It’s beautiful,” Belle commented as they approached the Great Hall doors. After what felt like an eternity, McGonagall led them into the Great Hall to stand as a group at the front of the steps. The woman walked up behind the stool and picked up a list. 

“Abbott, Hannah.”

The blonde girl walked up nervously and sat down. The hat touched her head for a moment before it shouted out her House. 

“Hufflepuff!”

After a few cheers, they moved on. 

“Bones, Susan!”

“Hufflepuff!”

“Boot, Terry!”

“Ravenclaw!”

“Brocklehurst, Mandy!”

“Gryffindor!”

“Brown, Lavender!”

“Gryffindor!"

“Bulstrode, Millicent!”

“Slytherin!”

“Chang, Cho!”

“Ravenclaw!”

The list went on and on. Crabbe and Goyle were both sent to Slytherin, something Belle noted hesitantly. Daphne was the first of the friends to be Sorted, and she was sent to Slytherin, something that didn’t seem to surprise her in the least. Next up was Draco. The hat barely touched his head before it sent him to Slytherin. Theo took a little longer but eventually went to join their friends. 

And then it was Belle’s turn. 

“Potter, Belle!”

A few hushed whispers broke out at the first of the two very famous names being called. Belle sucked in a deep breath and made her way up there. The hat touched her head and she frowned at the slight pain of it in her mind. 

“Oh, very interesting. So many things you’ve yet to learn. You love to learn.”

“I do,” she confirmed slowly. 

“But your upbringing and your friends point you on a different path,” he told her.

“Why?”

“Oh… you’ll find out.”

“Or you could tell me now.”

“Slytherin!”

The hat was pulled from her head and she took a deep breath and moved over to be sandwiched between Draco and Theo. Daphne was across from them, and the group turned their attention back to the front just in time to see Harry sit down. Just like Draco, the hat barely touched his head before it spoke. 

“Slytherin!”

Harry moved over to the table as quick as he could, placing himself down next to Daphne and across from his sister. They watched the rest of the Sorting together, all of them quietly annoyed that Blaise was dead last. He was also sent to Slytherin, keeping the group of friends easily intact. 

When the food arrived, they all tucked in excitedly, ready to fill up and get some sleep. The train ride was a long eight hours and had left them all exhausted. 

Belle looked up at the staff table as she waited for the elves to bring dessert and looked along. She saw the muggle studies professor first and moved down the line. Hagrid was there next to Flitwick, who was next to Dumbledore. Next to him was McGonagall, and on her other side was-

Belle was surprised to find him staring openly at her. She tilted her head curiously, waiting for him to break their strange, accidental eye contact. He seemed perfectly content to let it continue, so she took the time to take him in. He wore all black and had shoulder length, straight black hair, and pale skin. 

Draco grabbed her arm a little too rough and her head whipped around as she yanked it away from him, hissing in pain. She didn’t notice the way the man’s eyes sharpened on her, having caught the obviously pained motion. 

“That’s the hurt one,” she told him in a whisper. 

“I know,” he assured her, his wand peeking from under the table. “That numbing spell would’ve worn off by now. Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” she told him, pushing his wand away. “Thank you. I’ll ask someone about a nurse or something after the feast.”

“Let me go with you,” he requested. When she went to argue, he put a hand up. “I feel… responsible. I was friends with them.”

“What, you aren’t anymore?”

“No,” he stared at her like she was crazy. “My friendship with them was born of old alliances. Regardless of the fact that Father wishes for that to change, I want it to change. I’ve never liked them much and they hurt you.”

“Okay,” she said softly. She was startled to find that, when she looked back at the staff table, the man was still staring at her. She glanced back at Draco. “Who is that man looking at me?”

Draco glanced around her and blinked in surprise. “That’s my godfather, Severus Snape. He’s the Potions Professor. Why is he looking at you like that?”

“I don’t know,” she muttered. “It’s very unsettling.”

“He was a Death Eater,” he told her quietly. “Do you feel anything?”

“No,” she frowned. “That’s odd.”

“Maybe it’s a coincidence?”

“Maybe.”

* * *

After the feast, the Slytherin prefect led Belle and Draco down up a floor to the infirmary. She left them there and rushed back down to the dorms, uninterested in them. 

“What can I do for you dears?” Madame Pomfrey asked curiously. 

“I think I sprained my wrist on the train,” Belle told her. “It hurts to be touched or put weight on.”

Madame Pomfrey hummed and waved her wand over the wrist, ticking her tongue. “Yes, definitely sprained. I’ll get you a pain potion and a brace. How did you do this?”

“I just fell,” she lied quickly. “I’m quite clumsy.”

Madame Pomfrey accepted the answer and swiftly left to find the necessary items. 

“That was a lot easier than I expected,” she admitted to her friend. “I thought she’d ask me more questions.”

“She’s supposed to just heal without question in most cases,” Draco explained. “There are very few things she has to ask you about. I’d still be wary of her, though. Try not to get hurt too much.”

“Well it’s not like I plan on spraining my wrist every day,” she rolled her eyes. 

“Here you are,” Madame Pomfrey said, passing her the potion. While she took it with one hand, the mediwitch placed the brace on her other one. It had an instant numbing effect, much to her relief. “This will need to stay on for three weeks. You had a particularly bad sprain. The brace is magical so it will help to encourage strengthening the bone, but you will have to be careful. This wrist will sprain or break easier now that it’s been sprained before.”

“Is it like that for all broken bones?” Belle wondered curiously. 

“Yes, so try not to break anything else. Go on back to your common rooms, now.”

She hummed as they left. She and Harry had both broken bones before and they’d only ever been taken to the doctor because their teachers had begun noticing. 

“Miss Potter. Draco.”

“Oh,” Belle gasped, tensing at the sudden presence. Draco touched her arm gently, a surprisingly comforting gesture. “Hello.”

“Do you have a pass?” Snape asked. Draco handed it over. “The infirmary,” he said, eyeing her wrist curiously. 

“I just slipped is all,” she assured him in a rush. “Are we in trouble, Professor? Madame Pomfrey said we should be fine with that pass.”

“I only wished to ensure you are alright.”

“Oh… thank you?”

He handed the pass back to his godson. “I will see you both in class.”

“Goodnight,” Draco said, pulling Belle away quickly. Once they’d gotten down the stairs to the dungeons, he frowned at her. “That was weird.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, he was acting weird,” he shrugged, leading her into their common room. Their friends were gathered on the floor by the fire and they joined them. “He doesn’t really do that.”

“Do what, exactly?” She questioned, confused. 

“He went out of his way to make sure you were okay,” he explained. “How did he even know you were hurt?”

“I don’t… know,” she frowned. 

“What happened?” Harry wondered, ducking the exploding snap game Daphne and Blaise were playing. 

“Snape came to see if she was okay.”

“Huh,” Theo frowned. “That’s a bit… out of character for him.”

“He was staring at me weird, too,” Belle added. “Why do you think?”

“Well, he was in school with your parents,” Draco said slowly. “Maybe he knew them.”

“How do you know that?”

“Math, logic. I know how old he is and I know how old your parents were when they died, so they must’ve gone to school together.”

“If he wanted to see if you’re okay, he probably knew them fondly,” Daphne said as she watched Blaise’s face be covered in soot from the game, having lost. She looked over at them. “You could probably ask him about them.”

“Or we could not,” Harry suggested. At Belle’s incredulous stare, he shrugged. “He was glaring at me at the end of the feast.”

“Now  _ that _ makes no sense.”

“I dunno,” Blaise shrugged. “Seems more in character for him than being nice.”

* * *

**September 2nd, 1991**

**Potions Classroom**

“There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class.”

“Man, he really likes a dramatic entrance,” Blaise whispered to Belle, who smacked his arm lightly. 

“As such, I don’t expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion making. However, for those select few,” Snape paused to look at the front row that held Belle, Draco, and Blaise. Harry, Theo, and Daphne had been stuck behind them purely because of the seating chart that had been laid out when they entered the room. “That possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper on death… then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to  _ not pay attention _ .”

“Harry,” Belle hissed, throwing her hair tie at him to get his attention. His head shot up in surprise to find Snape glaring at him. 

“Mister Potter… tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood? You don’t know?”

Belle looked back to see him just staring dumbly, looking mostly confused. She raised her hand quietly, hoping to save him from the moment. 

“Miss Potter,” he called. “You have the answer for your brother?”

“It would be the Draught of Living Death, sir,” she told him. “But we’re not meant to cover that potion until sixth year.”

“Correct. It seems you’ve gotten the brains.”

“I don’t think that’s fair-,”

“Where would you look if I asked you to find me a beazel?” he asked her. Somehow, his hyper-focus on Harry had shifted to her. 

“A goat’s stomach,” she answered easily. “We also don’t learn that until sixth year.”

“And what is the difference between monkswood and wolfsbane?”

“Oh,” she blinked. “Well, nothing, not unless you mean the potion. Monkswood is wolfsbane, which is an ingredient in a potion by the same name that helps werewolves control themselves during the full moon. It’s also called aconite. That one isn’t until third year.”

“And yet you knew all the answers.”

“I read a lot over the summer.”

The class moved on normally after that, learning the very basics of the subject. They were given an essay to write and, it being the last class of the day, the students breathed out a sigh of relief when it was over. When Snape asked Belle to stay behind, she did, though all of her friends and her brother did as well. 

“The rest of you are dismissed,” he told them, his piercing gaze intimidating to everyone but Draco, who was well used to it. After each of them checked with her to make sure it was okay, they left with the instructions to head back to the common room when she was done. Once they were alone, she could see the man preparing himself, but she spoke before he had the chance to.

“You tried to trap him.”

“Excuse me?”

“Harry isn’t stupid, Professor. You couldn’t expect most first years to know half of what you asked, but you tried to ask him. Why?”

“You knew the answers,” he pointed out again. “It is not ridiculous to hope that he would be as studious as his sister.”

“Harry likes to act, I like to learn. We’re both smart, Professor. You can take points away if you’d like, but I do not appreciate you trying to trick him or make him look dumb. What do you have against him? Is it our parents?”

“Your parents,” he repeated coolly. “What led you to that conclusion?”

“Draco,” she explained. “He told us you were in school with our parents. He thinks you might’ve been friends with them.”

Snape stared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment. She felt like he was searching her soul for something and, apparently, found it. “Your mother was my best friend. James Potter was not.”

“So… so you have a problem with Harry because you didn’t like our dad?” she frowned. “But Harry isn’t our dad. He’s brilliant, he’s his own person. He’s a  _ good _ person, Professor. I had been hoping to ask if you knew them, maybe if you could tell us about them since Aunt Petunia never bothered to-,”

“You live with Petunia?” he asked her, horrified. She frowned. 

“Yes? We were given to her when our parents died.”

“Lily disowned her after your grandparents died,” he told her. “She never wanted Petunia near her or her friends and, assumedly, her family. Whoever put you there was mistaken.”

Belle felt shocked and a little dizzy. They were never supposed to go there. The first eleven years of their life, the years they’d been degraded, mistreated, ignored, hated, and treated like slaves… weren’t supposed to happen. She grabbed onto the table nearby and wondered if she was as pale as she assumed. “Oh. We just assumed… there was no one else.”

“Many people in the magical world would have had fair claim to you both,” he denied. “Lily and I parted ways before school ended, but I knew her for many years. She’d never have wanted you around Petunia. I knew Petunia as well. She was one of the most despicable people I’ve ever met.” 

“I- we didn’t…” she trailed off, shaking her head numbly. She felt an uncomfortable amount of anger. “Who… put us there?”

Snape stared at her green eyes for a moment and she saw his reluctance fall away. “Albus Dumbledore.” 

“But… why? Why would he leave us with them? Didn’t they have a will or- or  _ anything _ ? If other people could’ve taken us, why didn’t they? What- why did-,”

“Sit down,” he instructed, looking actually concerned at how worked up she was. She did as he said, sitting in the chair at the desk she was standing next to. To her surprise, he waved his wand, pulling a chair over for him, and he sat down across from her. “I am going to ask you a very serious question, Miss Potter, and I would like you to answer me honestly. Do your guardians mistreat you?”

“ _ What _ ?” she breathed, her heart skipping a beat with fear. “Why would- why do you think that?”

“Please answer the question.”

“No, they- they don’t, we’re okay. We’re fine. It’s fine,” she answered, trying to control herself. She was still reeling with the revelation that everything they’d endured had been the fault of not their parents but rather Albus Dumbledore, the man that was running their school. “Everything is fine.”

Snape’s face visibly fell, and it was the most expressive face he’d made so far. “I do wish I believed you.” 

“Professor, I- we’re okay.”

“It is possible to feel okay and still suffer abuse.” 

“But if they were mistreating us, don’t you think someone would take us away from them?” she tried. He shook his head, crushing her hopes of ending the conversation and running back to the common room. 

“Not if no one knew,” he said, pausing. “Not if no one cared. Please tell me the truth, Miss Potter.”

“We’re here,” she said so softly that he barely heard her. “And we don’t have to see them until summer because she doesn’t want us to come home for Christmas or Easter.” 

“What does she do?”

“Nothing that bad,” she assured him. “Mostly hits or something if we don’t finish our chores or do something wrong. It’s nothing we can’t handle. We get injured sometimes but we always heal really fast.”

“That would be your magic,” Snape said. He paused with a small frown. “I do not suppose Petunia told you about your magic?”

“Hagrid did,” she shook her head. “That’s when we found out  _ why _ she hates Mum.”

“I cannot pretend that removing you from their custody would be easy,” he admitted. “Dumbledore put you there, which means he wants you there for some reason or another.”

“Blaise told us as much,” she agreed. “He said that it would take a powerful Ancient and Noble House like the Blacks or Malfoys to remove us properly.”

“Mister Zabini knows?”

“So does Theo. We stayed with them for the last month of the summer,” she explained. At his stare, she shrugged. “Aunt Petunia told us not to come back until school is out. We were going to stay in Diagon Alley, but Theo’s dad invited us to stay. For alliances, Theo said.” 

Snape seemed to be processing her words, so she fell silent. She’d been terrified, but the way he was genuinely concerned for their safety made her relax, as well as the way she didn’t feel judged. 

“If you would ever like to… talk about anything,” he said slowly. “Then feel free to come to me. If you are ever injured, I will heal you.”

Belle felt an overwhelming sense of gratefulness. “Thank you, Professor.”

“Are you alright?” he asked her. She looked and felt much more stable, so she nodded. “You may return to your friends now.”

Belle got to her feet and grabbed her bag. “Thank you.”

“I will see you in class.”

She began making her way out of the room but stopped at the door, turning around. “Professor?”

“Yes?”

“Stop being mean to Harry because he looks like our dad. We can’t help whatever happened between you two, but we can be our own people, and we are. I’m not our mum, and he’s not our dad.”

Snape’s lips thinned, but he nodded curtly. Having already pushed her luck twice, she raced out of the room and down the hall. When she didn’t find her friends in the common room, she made her way up to first year boys’ dorms where they were hanging out together. 

“Merlin, you look sick,” Daphne frowned. “What did he do?”

“Harry, he knows,” she said, ignoring the presence of Daphne and Draco, neither of whom knew. “It didn’t- I didn’t mean to, he just sort of… we were never supposed to go to the Dursley’s, Harry. Mum hated Aunt Petunia. We weren’t supposed to go to them.”

Harry froze, and she could count the emotions as they crossed his face. Shock, horror, anger, and confusion all flew by before he settled on anger. “He said that?”

She nodded quickly. “I sort of… freaked out. I got a little dizzy and he asked me, and…”

“Shit, we’ve gotta teach you to lie,” Blaise told her. “What’s he gonna do?”

“Nothing?” she frowned. “Help us, I think. He said it would be hard to get us out, so-,”

“What are you talking about?” Draco asked her, Daphne nodding along. “What’s wrong with your aunt?”

“She treats us like shit,” Harry said sharply, gaining a glare from his sister. “I can’t believe you told him. He’s an ass!”

“I also… sort of told him off,” she winced.

“ _ You what _ ?” Draco choked out, blinking rapidly. 

“I told him that I’m not our mum and Harry isn’t our dad,” she explained. “I guess he had some sort of issue with our dad. I told him to knock it off and then I sorta ran away because I just yelled at a teacher."

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

“My head hurts,” Harry complained. 

“Yeah, you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon and you just felt more things than you have your entire life,” she quipped, earning herself a smack. Harry wasn’t great at expressing much more than concern or anger, something she’d pointed out many times over the years. It had become a bit of a joke to them. 

“This has been an eventful day,” Daphne hummed. “I miss Astoria.”

“She’s violent,” Theo said.

“Yeah,” Daphne agreed. “I miss her.”

* * *

**September 29th, 1991**

**Quidditch Pitch**

Belle watched Draco throw the ball, her hair sparking. Harry, of course, hopped on his broom after insulting their friend and flew after it. While he did that, his twin marched over to Draco. “You’re such a prat! Would you like it if I threw your bloody hair gel across the Quidditch pitch? Merlin knows you don’t need it!”

“She’s attacking the hair,” Blaise muttered to Daphne as they watched their friends argue. “She must be  _ pissed _ .”

“It’s just a ball, Potter, relax,” he waved her off. She let out an angry huff and sped past him, abandoning the flying class, her anger driving her. 

“Should we… follow her?” Theo wondered. 

“Nah, I don’t like getting too close when she’s this angry,” Blaise shook his head. 

Belle, meanwhile, was stomping down a flight of stairs until she reached the dungeons, where she took a sharp right and kept walking. The potions classroom was empty, it being a Saturday, but she saw Snape brewing a potion in the back. She barely remembered to knock before entering the room. 

“I am busy-,” Snape cut off, taking in her flushed cheeks and sparking hair. “What happened?”

“Draco!” She threw her arms up, pausing to compose herself. “I’m sorry. Draco took Neville’s rememberall and threw it while on his broom. Harry had to go after it and he did this crazy flip that could’ve killed him and how he’s so good on a broom I’ll never know but- the point is, Draco was bullying Neville and stole his ball and tried to break it.”

“And Madame Hooch was not sufficient to work this out?”

“She took Neville to the hospital wing,” she shook her head. “He fell and broke his arm. I thought our Head of House was the next logical step.”

Snape put a stasis charm on his potion and stood, waving her into his office. She sat, looking around quietly. She hadn’t been in there yet and it was rather nice with good furniture and a neutral but dark color pallet. “Miss Potter, you must understand that these things happen. As I wasn’t there, I cannot do anything unless Neville himself brings it up to Professor McGonagall or myself.”

“So what are we supposed to do?” She asked angrily. “He’s being a prat!”

“Tell him as much,” he suggested, somewhat amused. Her anger was very similar to Lily’s in the way that she was angriest when someone was being hurt or taken advantage of. The familiarity of it was endearing. Her angry eyes turned to a pout. 

“I did. He didn’t really care.”

“Because they are empty words,” he explained. “He knows you care for him more than you care about the argument, and that you will not call him a prat once it’s over.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“My advice, Miss Potter, would be to return to the pitch and explain to him  _ why _ what he did upset you. That may go much farther than calling him a prat.”

“Oh,” she frowned at the good advice. It surprised her, and suddenly she was glad she’d come. He hadn’t dismissed her or laughed at her or even taken the side of his godson like he so easily could have. He listened, told her what to do, and was kind about it. “Okay.”

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a potion to finish.”

* * *


	3. Creatures and Beings

**October 5th, 1991**

**Dungeons**

“Why are you just telling me this  _ now _ ?” Harry asked, hurt. “We had a godfather?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I’m sorry, Harry. I wanted to do more reading on it before I told you.”

“And?”

“And… I don’t know,” she admitted. “Something seems  _ off _ . He was never given a trial and we were put with Aunt Petunia without their wills even being read. They’re sitting in their vaults somewhere. We’d have to find the goblin in charge of the Potter accounts to handle that, and we’d have to have someone over age communicating for us. Preferably the Potter regent, but he’s… well, it became illegal for him to be regent because he’s a werewolf. It’s all really messed up, Harry.”

“Well maybe- wait, what’s a regent thingy?”

“They basically speak for the House when there is no Lord or Lady in charge of it,” she explained. “That includes while the heir is underage like us.”

“So who is this guy? Maybe he knows something.”

“Remus J Lupin,” she said, remembering the name easily. “I couldn’t find much on him aside from how he became a werewolf, which was in the Daily Prophet in 1964. I don’t know how he knew our family. Considering his age, I assume he was friends with Mum and Dad.”

“And who might that be?”

The twins jumped at the voice behind them, grabbing onto each other in surprise and concern. 

“Merlin,” Harry breathed out upon spotting their Head of House. 

“Remus Lupin,” Belle answered. She’d wanted to ask him anyway. “He was supposed to be our regent, apparently, but some toad named Umbridge made it illegal for werewolves to serve Ancient and Noble Houses.” 

“Lupin,” Snape repeated. “He was good friends with both of your parents separately.”

“If he was such good friends with them, why did he never try to talk to  _ us _ ?” Harry asked bitterly. Snape looked between them, considering the question. 

“I would assume Dumbledore.”

“Of course,” Belle scowled. Her respect for the man had dropped considerably upon learning he’d put them with their aunt. “But Professor… did he… stop you, too?”

“I was not given your location, nor any way to contact you,” he told her, looking uncomfortable. “I asked and sent owls, all of which returned to me the same day. You were kept hidden from everyone.”

“So what you’re saying is that our godfather is in Azkaban for  _ maybe _ turning Mum and Dad over to Voldemort and the only person that could help us  _ can’t _ help us because some gross lady decided werewolves suck?”

“Yes, basically.”

“How do you know about Sirius Black?” Snape asked, concerned. Sirius was a man he’d never planned on telling them about, and it had been clear Dumbledore felt the same. 

“Theo’s father told me,” Belle explained. “He told me about the entire Black House. Draco is the current heir because everyone else is dead, arrested, or disowned. They sound like a mess.”

“They were,” Snape confirmed, privately thinking that it was an understatement. “Unfortunately, you are both relatively stuck where you are.”

“Maybe… if Dumbledore knew how they treat us, he’d move us,” Harry suggested. Belle made a face. 

“I don’t want to put that sort of faith in him, nor do I want to give him that power over us.”

“ _ Power _ ?” he asked, shocked. 

“She is correct,” Snape said. “Baring your weaknesses to someone you do not trust is extremely unwise.”

“He can’t be that bad,” Harry made a face. He still didn’t fully like or trust Snape since their first day, and it was clear Snape was also having issues coming to terms with the fact that, despite how he looked, Harry truly wasn’t a carbon copy of James. “Hagrid trusts him so much.”

“Harry… I love Hagrid, you know that, but… his life sort of revolves around Dumbledore. He works for him, lives at his school, is friends with purely teachers and some students. Being loyal to Dumbledore is smart for him. Besides, you heard him. He’s not supposed to do magic and sometimes he’s given the freedom to do so.”

“Hagrid isn’t  _ stupid _ , Belle.”

“I didn’t say he is! I said that logically, it makes sense that he cares for Dumbledore so much. Merlin, what has you so bloody loyal to Dumbledore?”

“Why do  _ you _ have to hate him so much?” Harry shot back, feeling defensive. “Didn’t Theo say our parents were friends with him during that war? So shouldn’t we trust them?”

“Do you believe,” Snape began, unwilling to listen to the boy that looked so like James Potter put so much blind faith in Dumbledore. It made it even more difficult to continue separating the two in his mind. “That your parents would trust him knowing where he put you? Lily would be furious, and I suspect your father, despite his faults, would be as well.”

Harry looked between his sister and their Head of House with an angry scowl and stomped away. Belle threw her head back, annoyed. 

“I don’t understand why he has to be so  _ thick _ .”

“It certainly seems… unnatural,” Snape agreed slowly. “Does he usually-,”

“No,” she shook her head. “We trust each other, Professor. If I tell him I don’t like someone, it’s almost always enough to make him believe me. If it doesn’t, proof has always won him over. I don’t know why he’s being like this.”

“Keep an eye on him,” the man suggested. “If you notice anything else out of the usual, tell me.”

* * *

**October 12th,1991**

**Staircases**

“What are you- don’t touch my hair,” Belle scowled, shoving Draco’s hand away from her hair. “What are you doing?”

“It’s  _ messy _ ,” he told her, horrified. Harry snickered at her side, ignoring the glare she shot at him. She winced when Draco’s fingers ran through the hair, breaking up a tangle. His wand came up and she gasped when the spell he cast twisted her hair into a tight braid and held it together. “There.”

“What spell was that- oh!” The staircase shifted abruptly, and Harry knocked into his sister as they tried to keep their balance. 

“What’s happening?” Harry asked in concern. 

“The staircases move,” she reminded him, waiting for it to settle again before she continued up it. Unsure where they were, Harry opened the door before him and they moved inside, looking around curiously. 

“Does anybody feel like we shouldn’t be here?” he asked, his neck tingling. Belle gasped, her eyes widening.

“We’re  _ not _ supposed to be here,” she confirmed. She threw her new braid over her shoulder, looking at the room uneasily. “This is the third floor, it’s forbidden!”

A flame lit up the room and a cat walked in behind them.

“Filch’s cat,” Draco hissed. 

“Run!” Harry told them, turning. They ran down the long, dark room, lights flashing alive as they passed them. “Quick! Let’s hide through that door!”

When he struggled to open the door, Draco rolled his eyes and pointed his wand at the door handle. “ _ Alohomora _ !” The door swung open easily, and the trio rushed inside, closing it behind them.

“Alohomora?” Harry asked, sucking in a breath. The chase reminded both twins of Potter Hunting, both of their least favorite games. 

“Standard book of spells, chapter seven,” Belle answered for Draco.

“Filch is gone,” Harry said after a short, silent second. 

“He obviously thought the door was locked,” Draco rolled his eyes. 

“For good reason,” Harry hissed, scared. Belle and Draco looked over and stopped in their tracks at the sight of a very large three-headed dog, sleeping in front of them. Belle’s heart skipped a beat as the dog yawned and began waking up, one head at a time. 

The three kids screamed loudly and ran from the room, slamming the door shut behind them. Belle locked it quickly again before they kept running, closing the door to the corridor behind them. 

“ _ Why _ would they keep something like that locked up in a school? When  _ first years _ could get into the room?” Draco asked as they rushed down to Slytherin. He and Belle directed them toward Snape’s office, much to Harry’s annoyance. 

“Weren’t you paying attention?” Belle asked quickly, her heart still racing. “It was standing on something, guarding something. A trapdoor.”

“I believe I was more focused on  _ escaping with my life _ , Potter.”

“Your life,” Snape repeated, making them jump. Apparently, none of them had noticed as they entered the potions classroom, nor had they seen Snape eyeing them from his desk. 

“Merlin,” Harry scrunched up his nose. “That was more terrifying than the dog.”

Belle hit his arm. “Be serious! Professor, we accidentally ended up in the third-floor and-,”

The pained and bothered look on Snape’s face told all of them that he already knew what she was going to say, but she continued anyway.

“-there was a three-headed dog standing over a trapdoor, guarding it.”

“I bet it’s the thing Hagrid got when we went to Gringott’s!” Harry exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. “He wouldn’t tell us what it was, but I’d bet anything that’s what it was guarding.”

“We are aware of the situation,” Snape told them with as much patience as he could muster. “The dog is meant to be there. Thank you for informing me of your discovery. You are dismissed.”

The trio exchanged a glance but left to the common room, which was also empty. Most students were out on the grounds, trying to take advantage of the remainder of the warm weather. 

“So what do you think it is that it’s guarding?” Draco wondered, looking between the twins, who had sat across from him. 

“It was small,” Harry volunteered. “Nothing big.”

“But whatever it is, it has to be dangerous,” Belle frowned, pursing her lips. “I don’t know what Dumbledore is doing. If there’s something dangerous enough to be guarded by a three-headed dog, that room needs better security measures than a lock that can be undone with an Alohomora.”

“He’s being reckless,” Draco agreed. “Almost as if he doesn’t actually care who gets down there.”

* * *

**October 20th, 1991**

**Dumbledore’s Office**

Belle lifted her hand nervously to knock on the door, but she was spared the effort when it swung open with a soft “come in” from the man at the desk. She did as he said and glanced around discreetly as she did so. The room was mostly golden with hints of red and green scattered around. There were more trinkets than she could count littered all over the room, many of them twirling or making noise or flashing. 

“Those manage wards.”

“I’m sorry?” she blinked, realizing she’d been staring at two in particular that she found she couldn’t take her eyes away from. 

“Those two manage, or rather watch, wards of two properties of the Black House.” 

Belle frowned, waving her hand slowly over one. It lit up when her finger grazed it and she gasped, stepping back. “If the House of Black is finished, why do you need to monitor their properties?”

“Oh, it is not finished, my dear,” he disagreed. “While members of the House is alive, it will never be finished. That House was full of only Dark witches and wizards, the most bigoted of us all. It is wise to be aware of it if they ever do return.” 

“Do you think that’s possible?” she asked, tearing her eyes from the orbs to sit down in the chair in front of his desk. “For an entire family, every member, to be one thing? You don’t think people have free will, or believe in individuality?"

Dumbledore let out a small laugh, his eyes twinkling at her. “Such large questions, Miss Potter. Let’s see… the only good Black I knew was your grandmother, Dorea Potter. She was married in secret before her father could disown her, and the last patriarch refused to do it once she was married. As for the rest… I have been around a long time.”

“Do not be so close minded.”

Belle let out a surprised yelp. Dumbledore had the gall to laugh at her. 

“Apologies, Phineas,” he said, glancing to a portrait. “I did not realize you had woken. It has been a great many years.”

“Not since Sirius Black was here with Lily Potter,” Phineas nodded firmly, eyeing Belle. “Who are you?”

“Belle Potter,” she answered, tilting her head curiously. “You knew my mum?”

“Sweet girl,” he nodded. “She had some favors to ask of me.”

“I do not recall that visit,” Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. Phineas shrugged. 

“You were not there.”

“Wait, why has it been so long?” Belle shook her head, confused. He seemed to recognize her then somehow, and he made her very curious. “Did you know Sirius well? Or my mum?”

“I think that’s enough for now, Phineas,” Dumbledore said, giving the portrait a stern look. “I do apologize, Miss Potter, but I did call you here for a reason.”

Slightly put out at the way he’d blocked her questions, she nodded. “Why?”

“Professor Snape has informed me of a few concerning things I wanted to address with you.”

“Okay…”

“He began by telling me that you, Mister Malfoy, and your brother, Harry, stumbled upon our guest on the third floor.”

Belle snorted indelicately and put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. “ _ Guest _ ?”

Dumbledore nodded. “Fluffy will not be here longer than this year with any luck. In the meantime, I would greatly appreciate if you and your friends did not spread the news of his presence in the castle. It would be greatly alarming, I’m sure you understand.”

“Why didn’t you bring Harry and Draco here to tell them, too?” she wondered. 

“You do seem to be the… leader of your friends’ group,” he said after a moment. She had a feeling it was a complete lie, but she ignored it. 

“What else?” she asked. She was unwilling to waste time on pleasantries when she was so nervous.

“Professor Snape has also informed me that Petunia Dursley and her family do not treat you or your brother… with kindness,” he settled on after a moment. “I hoped to meet with you to discuss it.”

Truthfully, she’d not expected him to confront it. Sure, she knew Snape would tell him, mostly because he’d said he had to, but she didn’t think he’d  _ say anything _ . Suddenly curious and just a little bit hopeful, she sat up straight. “Then why didn’t you bring Harry?”

“Professor Snape told me he’s only spoken with you on the subject, leading me to believe only you are comfortable.”

It was a good lie, she had to admit, but obviously a lie nonetheless. “Only I have spoken with him because he and Harry are uncomfortable around one another, apparently because Professor Snape and my dad didn’t get along.”

“That is true,” Dumbledore nodded with a sad smile. “They never did, despite how hard your mother tried to mend that rift between them.”

“What… happened?” she asked softly, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“House rivalries, mostly,” he hummed. “And, I believe, Lily. Professor Snape never thought your father was good enough for her as James had spent years making the boyhood mistake of mistreating Professor Snape. Lily chose James and Professor Snape and Lily ended their friendship. It was devastating to the both of them, according to Professor McGonagall.”

“Oh,” she breathed. She supposed she could see why Snape would hate her father so much. If he’d mistreated - or bullied, she guessed - Snape, it made sense that he wouldn’t trust or like him. It also made sense that he’d be upset with her mother for so easily forgiving her father for his earlier mistakes, and she could see how it would end a friendship. Still, her heart was warmed by the fact that, despite the way Lily had abandoned him for James, he still cared for her and, to an extent, Harry. 

“If we can get back to the conversation at hand,” Dumbledore requested. “I deeply regret to inform you that, unfortunately, it would be near impossible to remove you from your family. They have strong blood wards that require at least one of you to stay there for at least part of the year to uphold them. It would be less of an issue if we were not concerned over protecting your family as well, but they are also a target for protecting you so much over the years.”

“Sir, I’m sorry, but they’ve never protected us,” she said, tense. She’d let him get her hopes up and felt them crash down around her. “They treat us like slaves. They hate us. They hate our magic. We aren’t welcome there and they’d much rather hand us off to Death Eaters simply for the price of ensuring we never returned.”

“I understand that the home is… unwelcoming, that you are unloved, but surely you are being dramatic,” he gave her a regretful frown. “As I said, it is simply impossible. I am very sorry, Miss Potter.”

“Sure,” she snapped. It took all her restraint to keep from snapping at him and telling him all the things their family had done over the years, but she remembered Snape’s words. Giving such delicate information to someone so clearly untrustworthy was not wise. 

It was when Dumbledore met her eyes, she cried out, shutting them tightly. There was some sort of pain in her mind that was new and overwhelming and she couldn’t even manage to ask if she could leave before she bolted from the room, holding onto her head as she rushed down the stairs. She was heading toward the common room when she slammed into someone, not having paid attention. 

“Miss Potter,” Snape said sharply. He paused when he looked at her. “Are you alright?”

“My… mind,” she breathed. “It  _ hurts _ .”

“What happened?” he asked, concerned. She looked truly pained, and he was worried someone had messed with her mind. “Miss Potter, what happened?”

“I don’t- I don’t know,” she shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. She let him guide her into the potions room and push her down into a chair. “I was meeting with Dumbledore and I just look at him and my head  _ hurts _ .”

Snape’s lips thinned. “Did he meet your eyes?”

“Um… I think so?”

“What he did was enter your mind, or attempt to. Do you know what Occlumency is?”

“No,” she frowned, rubbing at her temples, trying to convince the pain to go away. 

“It is a sort of magical shield for your mind,” he explained, sitting down in front of her. “There is another magic, Legilimency, that allows a person to enter someone else’s mind. That is what Dumbledore seems to have done. It is illegal on minors without the consent of their magical guardian, but it seems he did not care.”

“Why does it… hurt so much?”

Snape looked at her for a long moment. The pain on her face was clear and while he knew how to help her, he was hesitant. “I am not entirely sure. I do, however, know how to help you.”

“Can’t I just take a pain potion?” she questioned. 

“The mind is a very delicate thing,” Snape disagreed. “Pain of the mind requires careful recovery guided by someone well practiced.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means… that something was irritated when he entered your mind,” Snape said slowly. She wasn’t looking at him, but she was clearly listening, having stilled when he began speaking. “Someone will have to enter your mind and put whatever was touched under shields.”

“Occlumency,” she said. “But I don’t- who would do it? I don’t know anybody that can- you’re sure it won’t just go away?”

Snape looked at her. She was tense and held herself tight together, and looked a little scared. It was a sight he’d never seen on Lily, and it hit him in that moment that Belle was certainly her own person. He’d been fighting to see Harry as his own person, but he’d never thought to do the same for Belle. That second, however, he saw how vulnerable, scared, and hurt she was, and he knew that Lily would fully expect him to do everything in his power to help her. So, he would. 

“I am sure. I am a Master Legilimens, so I can help you if you are willing.”

Belle looked up at him. “What would it mean?”

“It would mean I will enter your mind and look for what was damaged. Then, I will place the shields around it.”

Snape almost thought she was going to say no, if the hesitation on her face said anything. But slowly, she nodded, looking more sure of herself. “Okay… thank you.”

Suddenly, Snape realized what he’d offered. He practiced his Occlumency every day, but it had been years since he’d gone into anyone’s minds, and even longer since he’d taken care doing it. “I will meet your eyes and cast the spell. It may feel odd, but it should not hurt. Try to relax. It will go much easier.”

“Okay,” she nodded. She looked up and made eye contact, and he stared into the bright green eyes that he’d begun to associate more with the Potter twins than his old friend. Taking in a short breath, he cast the spell. 

“ _ Legilimens _ !”

_ When they fell into her mind, a memory began playing immediately. It radiated with pain and was clearly the source of the injury, so while it played, he worked on placing the shields around it. _

_ “Where is he?” a young Belle demanded, ducking a hit. She was hysterical with tears streaming down her face and holding her arm against her side. “Where did you put him? He’s hurt!”  _

_ “You won’t be seeing him,” Petunia said sharply. “You will stay in the cupboard for a week.” _

_ “But he’s hurt!”  _

_ “Worry about yourself, girl,” Vernon snapped, grabbing her hair and pulling her down the hall. He tore the door to the cupboard open and threw her in, where she landed on an old, ratty mattress with stains and dust on it. Before she could stand up, he slammed the door shut and locked it. “And no food for three days!” _

Belle gripped the desk in front of her as soon as he left her mind and squeezed her eyes shut. She’d been totally unprepared for the memory, one she’d almost forgotten about. That moment, though, it came back to her. She could feel Snape’s eyes on her, and she forced her eyes open to meet his, gathering every bit of bravery she could muster to do it. “Harry was sick, he’d caught something from Dudley. I tried to do both of our chores, and when I couldn’t get them done  _ and _ take care of him, we both got in trouble. My arm was broken. I think I got the worst of it then.”

“How old were you?”

She considered the soft question, trying to remember. “Maybe five or six? I don’t know. They didn’t use the cupboard as much as punishment when we were that young.”

The pair fell into silence, and she took the time to think over the fact that, despite the awful memory, he must’ve done what he’d promised to do, because her mind felt a million times better. More than that, the memory didn’t upset her nearly as much as it would’ve before. 

“What did you do to it?” she asked slowly. “I’m not… upset.”

“Occlumency shields suppress strong, negative emotions,” he said. Her eyes lit up.

“Can you teach me to do that?”

“Occlumency lessons typically begin at a very young age,” Snape told her with a slight frown. “It is much harder to learn the older you are. I would estimate it would take you many years and a constant guide.”

“What do you mean?”

“If I taught you now, I would need to look at a great deal of your memories and guide you before your mind can make the shields on its own. As I said, it is much easier as a small child.”

Belle considered that. She didn’t want him to see all of her memories, but at the same time, what Dumbledore had done had hurt and she wanted protection from that. Besides, he had reacted quite well to what he’d seen. “Would you be willing to teach me anyway?”

“You must understand, we cannot control what I see,” he told her very seriously, meeting her eyes again. “Once your mind can make the shields on its own, you can go over the memories we missed, but we will likely see a great deal of your life, good and bad. Are you prepared for that?”

“Yes,” she nodded truthfully. “Please, sir, I- I don’t want my mind to hurt like that again.”

Snape nodded once and stood. “We will meet twice a week for lessons and you will meditate every night for ten minutes before you sleep. Come back tomorrow after your classes have finished.”

“Thank you, sir,” she breathed in relief. He dismissed her and she rushed off to find her friends, who were all once more in the boys’ dorm, this time with a deck of muggle cards in between them. She stared. “What are you guys doing?”

“Playing some game called euchre,” Draco answered her. “Harry is shit at it.”

“Harry’s shit at strategy,” Daphne corrected while Harry made a face at them both. “That’s why he’s not playing anymore.”

“How’d your meeting with Dumbledore go?” Theo wondered as Blaise scowled at his cards and set one down, making Daphne make a face at him. Belle sat down next to Harry and Daphne and watched them play, completely confused by the game. 

“Um, not great,” she admitted. “First he told me that he knew we’d found the three-headed dog - which, by the way, is named Fluffy - and asked me that we keep it quiet.”

“Well, why weren’t we there?” Draco asked, nodding at himself and Harry. She sighed and shook her head.

“Not sure. The next thing he said is that Snape told him the Dursley’s suck and that he can’t do shit for us.”

“Which raises the question again of why Harry wasn’t there,” Daphne hummed, plucking a card and dropping on top of the pile in the middle of the four playing. Draco grabbed the pile and they began dealing cards again. 

“Just stay as far away from Dumbledore as you can,” Daphne instructed. “Anyone willing to keep you in a dangerous home does not have your best interests at heart.”

“It’s not like I  _ want _ to be around him,” she muttered. “Although, I want to get back up there. There was a portrait of a man that said the last time he woke up was when our Mum and Sirius Black were there. Apparently, Dumbledore wasn’t even in the office.”

“I’d bet it’s the Black portrait,” Draco said. “Phineas Nigellus Black. He wakes when a Black is in the room.”

“But I’m not a Black.”

“You are related to them,” Theo reminded her. “Your grandmother was a Black.”

“Well, I want to see what he knows about Sirius,” she explained. “I’m still unsure on that. He never got a trial, he was famously loyal to our parents. The only possible reason he’d have joined is apparently his sister, but she died only days after his brother, so I can’t imagine why he’d stay if he spent so long defying his family.”

“It’s suspicious,” Blaise agreed, dropping a card on the pile, prompting Draco to grab it. “Why don’t you contact that other guy?”

“I tried,” she screwed up her face. “It just came back to me.”

“Snape said no one could reach us,” Harry said suddenly. “Maybe we can’t contact those people, either.”

“Ooh, I could write and send the letters for you,” Daphne offered. “If there is a mail block between you, it wouldn’t extend to me.”

“Okay,” Belle smiled brightly. “Okay, thanks, Daph.”

* * *

**October 31st, 1991**

**Slytherin Boys’ Dorm**

Theo, Harry, and Belle slammed the door behind them, gathering the stares of their friends, who were staring and waiting, concerned. 

“What  _ happened _ to you guys?"

“It’s her fault!” Harry declared, pointing at his sister, exhausted. He threw himself onto his bed while she scowled and went to sit with Daphne and Blaise. 

“It wasn’t my fault really,” she disagreed. “It’s not my fault I was down there. It’s  _ your _ fault that you made me want to miss the feast, though.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault you got cornered by a troll?” He asked. 

“Merlin, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them fight like this,” Blaise whispered to Daphne, who nodded in agreement. They weren’t usually so clearly and truly upset with one another. 

“Regardless of whose fault it was,” Theo interrupted. “Now we know for sure that someone was trying to sneak past that dog you saw.”

“How do you figure that?” Harry asked stupidly. 

“Because it’s a perfect distraction,” Belle informed him. “I’d bet that someone tried to get down there.” 

“We don’t even know what  _ is _ down there,” Daphne pointed out. “Shouldn’t we focus on school?”

Harry waved her off absently. “How would we know who?”

“Well, probably anyone that’s injured or something,” Draco reasoned. “That thing was huge.”

“My money is on Quirrell,” Blaise cut in. “He’s creepy.”

“I can agree with that,” Belle nodded, looking at her brother. “Your scar hurts when he’s around. If we’ve learned anything, it’s not to underestimate pain.”

“I guess so.”

* * *

**November 1st, 1991**

**Great Hall**

“Miss Potter.”

Belle looked up from her book to find Snape standing over her. “Oh, good morning, Professor.”

“Our meeting tonight will be moved up an hour.”

“Okay,” she frowned. She’d planned to help Neville with his potions essay, but she could always push it back. “I’ll come straight there when classes get out.”

Snape nodded once and walked off… or rather, limped off toward the staff table. 

Harry smacked her arm repeatedly. “I knew it! I told you he was bad!”

Belle made a face at him and looked away from the man. “Relax, Harry. He isn’t the one trying to steal whatever it is. He’s obviously trying to protect it. Why else would he have told Dumbledore we knew?”

“So that Dumbledore would tell us to back off?” Harry suggested. 

“No,” she said firmly. “Mum was best friends with him.”

“And then they stopped being friends!” 

“I asked Father about that,” Draco cut in. The twins looked at him in surprise, and he shifted a little, uncomfortable. “Fine, next time I  _ won’t _ try to help you.”

“No, just- please tell us,” Belle shook herself, offering him a smile. 

“Apparently, they were friends up until fifth year. The Dark Lord-  _ fine _ , Voldemort told him that he either had to stop being her friend or he’d hurt her. Father said he seemed honest in his hatred of her from there on out, but it’s clear that he didn’t hate her.”

“He was protecting her,” Belle whispered. “See, Harry? He’s a good man.”

“Mail is here,” Theo interrupted as owls swept into the hall, dropping off mail to students. The twins got nothing, but Daphne got three letters. She frowned down at them before gasping loudly. 

“It’s him!” 

“Who?” Blaise asked, leaning over to read the name. Daphne tore the letter open, skimmed it, and then handed it straight over to Belle, who read it silently. 

_ Miss Greengrass, _

_ Thank you for writing me. I was aware that Harry and Belle would be in school this year, and I have tried numerous times to write or even visit them. Unfortunately, my letters return and I find myself confused when I near their aunt’s house and return home. A spell to keep me away, no doubt.  _

_ As for your invitation, I would love to come, but only if your parents agree and are aware of my condition. The full moon is a few days before the break begins, so I will be safe, but I would not want any unwelcome surprises regardless.  _

_ I have many things I would like to discuss with the twins, just as I’m certain they have questions for me. I do have a few of their parents things, so if this works out, I will bring those things for them.  _

_ Thank you once more for reaching out to me.  _

_ Regards,  _

_ Remus J Lupin. _

Belle set the letter on the table, not paying attention as Harry picked it up. “What’s he talking about with Christmas?”

“Oh, well, it was Astoria’s idea, actually,” Daphne admitted. “She ran it by Dad. We’re going to have you guys and him over as well.”

“As well?”

“We’re coming,” Theo said, nodding at himself and Blaise. “Father is out of the country for all of December and-,”

“And my Mum gives no shits if I’m around,” Blaise said truthfully, seemingly not bothered by it. 

“So Dad invited them over. And you guys. Mum will have so much fun. She’s always wanted more kids to spoil.”

“We’re really going to meet him?” Harry asked softly, setting the letter on the table. Draco picked it up and read it over quietly. 

“Yup,” Daphne grinned. 

* * *

**November 7th, 1991**

**Black Lake**

It had been a long week. 

Belle and Harry had been fighting on and off the entire week, and it had led to a big, blow out fight that meant they did not want to be near each other. The fight had occurred in the middle of potions class, where they’d both gotten two detentions and been told by Snape to stay away from one another for the rest of the day. After the fight, they were glad to do just that. 

And while their friends had tried to stay out of it, Harry’s rising temper had meant that he’d yelled at them as well, leaving him alone for the day. It was a Hogsmeade day, which meant that years three and up were in the nearby village and the younger students were enjoying the mostly empty castle. Harry, however, wanted out of the castle. It had led him down the path to the Black Lake, a place he hadn’t visited yet. 

It was chilly and the lake was quiet. The mountains surrounding it gave off a creepy image, one that he was perfectly glad to sit and watch. The water was calm for the most part and there were no animals around despite the proximity to the Forbidden Forest. It was a good place for Harry to gather his thoughts, however confused they were. 

They were all on Dumbledore. 

Logically, Harry knew that the Headmaster wasn’t a good man, not from the things he knew. Leaving them with the Dursley’s alone had incited a deep anger that he couldn’t rid himself of. Add to that the fact that he’d blocked mail from the two men that could’ve told them about their parents or even shown them some care or love and Harry knew he wanted away from the man. Finally, the way Dumbledore had intruded on Belle’s mind and caused her such pain made him furious. 

And yet… he trusted Dumbledore. He had faith in him, he didn’t want to question him, he felt a deep sense of loyalty to him. 

He didn’t understand it. 

Every time he spoke of the old man with his sister, they fought. Somehow, he felt more loyalty to Dumbledore, a man he’d never actually met, than to his sister, who had gone through all the shit he’d gone through with him. 

Harry knew something was wrong, but he didn’t know how to go about fixing it, and even more, something deep inside of him told him it was safer not to fix it. 

What he  _ did _ need to fix was his relationship with Belle. Since getting to school, they’d had a tough time. They weren’t used to having so many people around that actually cared for them. Staying with Theo and Blaise was tough, too, but they’d gotten used to it. Now with four close friends, they felt stuck. It was hard to find time alone or even to stay near one another. 

Just as he was pondering the situation, he felt an invisible force slam into his back and throw him twenty feet into the freezing water before him. The force knocked the air out of him, and when he tried to suck more in, he breathed in the cold water that he fell into. 

Harry and Belle had never learned to swim. Dudley hadn’t, either, despite the many swimming classes he’d taken. Harry twisted in the water, flailing his arms about as he tried to push his head above the surface. When he coughed, trying to get the water out of his lungs, he only sucked more in. He felt sick and dizzy and  _ cold _ and it wasn’t long before he felt himself drifting off. 

Arms wrapped around him and, with a quick  _ Ascendio _ , they were thrown from the water over to the sand nearby. Another spell,  _ Annepno _ , hit Harry, and he coughed as the water cleared from his airway safely. A final spell, this one a warming charm, fell on him, and he warmed up quickly. Feeling much better, he was finally aware enough to notice two redheads staring down at him in concern. 

“I think he’s awake,” one muttered. 

“Least he isn’t dead,” the other one nodded seriously. Harry scrunched up his nose and said the first thing he could think of.

“What were you doing in the lake?”

“Better question-,”

“What were  _ you _ doing in the lake?”

“It’s not like I went in there on purpose,” Harry muttered, frowning as he tried to figure out what happened. He looked back to find a familiar turban rushing away quickly. “Quirrel!”

The twins exchanged a glance. 

“That stuttering mess-,”

“Probably couldn’t cast anything strong enough-,”

“To even toss an eleven-year-old boy into the lake.”

Harry shook his head. “What were you guys doing in there? And… who are you?”

“Gred-,”

“And Forge Weasley,” the introduced together. 

“Fred and George,” Harry nodded. He’d heard about them. “I’m Harry. Thanks for saving me.”

“You should be careful,” one of them told him seriously. 

“There’s a lot of people that hate you.”

“Obviously someone hates you enough to try to kill you.”

“I’m usually with my friends,” he promised. “Wait, aren’t you third years? Why aren’t you in Hogsmeade? For that matter, why are you in the lake?”

“Needed some merpods,” Fred, he guessed, waved him off. 

“Lucky for you, too,” George nodded. “Careful there, Harrykins.”

Harry screwed up his face. “Thanks for helping me. I should probably get back to the castle.”

The twins exchanged a look and each wrapped an arm around him. 

“Then to the castle we go!”

* * *

“Nonsense,” Hadrid shook his head at the group. “Why would Quirrel try to kill Harry?”

“Who knows?” Harry wondered. Belle nodded. 

“Why was he trying to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween?”

“Who told you about Fluffy?” Hagrid asked gruffly.

Draco winced at the name. “That’s really an awful name for such a beast.”

“I named him, he’s mine,” Hagrid defended, upset at the insult. 

“ _ Yours _ ?” 

“I bought him off an Irish fellow down at the pub last year. Then, I lent him to Dumbledore to guard-,”

“Yes?”

“Shouldn’t have said that,” Hagrid whispered with a small wince. “No more questions! Don’t ask any more questions! Top secret, that is.”

“But Hagrid, whatever Fluffy’s guarding, Quirrell’s trying to steal it,” Harry told their friend firmly. 

“Codswallop,” Hagrid denied. “Professor Quirrell is a Hogwarts teacher!”

“Teacher or not,” Belle interrupted in concern. “Harry still got thrown into the Black Lake.”

“Now you listen to me, all of you. You’re meddling in things that ought not to be meddled in. It’s dangerous. What that dog is guarding is strictly between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

“Nicholas Flamel?” Harry frowned. 

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Hagrid muttered, turning and walking away. “I should  _ not _ have said that.”

“I know him,” Draco told them once Hagrid had gone. “He’s the owner of the Sorcerer’s Stone. That’s what they’re hiding, it’s the Sorcerer’s Stone!”

* * *


	4. Lupin

**December 21st, 1991**

**Greengrass Manor**

The kids - bar Draco - arrived at Greengrass Manor early that morning, the train ride having been over the previous night. With a lot of energy in all of them, they went to play Quidditch outside - everyone but Belle, who rolled her eyes at them and went to the sitting room near the back of the house. 

“Soul magic.”

Belle let out a small noise of surprise and dropped her book in her lap. When she looked up, she found Daniel Greengrass looking at her curiously. A small blush covered her cheeks and she offered him a small smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Soul magic is a rare type of magic,” he said, ignoring her words with an interested smile. “What brought you to it?”

Belle considered how to answer him. “Honestly… I’m not certain. I’d love to say curiosity, but I just feel pulled to it. It is quite interesting, though.”

“And rarely used anymore,” he agreed, taking a seat across from her. “Once a soul is altered, be it connected to another or ripped apart, it cannot be repaired or put back the way it was before. Wizarding weddings used to be based off of soul connections but that changed when divorces began. You can live away from your soul partner but you can never break that bond, nor can you bond that way with anyone else. Aside from that, finding your bond mate is extremely rare, so those bonds are typically forced.” 

“Fascinating,” Belle breathed. “And family bonds? Are those rare?”

He considered the question curiously. “Sealed familial bonds aren’t done anymore. Every family has preliminary bonds, be it parental, sibling, twin, or a general familial bond. They aren’t, however, sealed anymore. The Black family is a wonderful example. They had to stop sealing those bonds many years ago when the family turned on one another. In 1973, Bellatrix tortured her sister, Andromeda. If their sibling bond had been sealed, it would have killed Bellatrix for betraying her in such a way.”

Belle shook her head. “That family… there’s something about them.”

“Ah, that’s what we said,” he agreed. “We all disagree over whose fault the end was, but I say it was the fault of Voldemort. He put them against one another until… look where they are now. Gone.”

“You think Sirius Black joined him?” she asked curiously. She intended to ask Remus Lupin as well.

Lord Greengrass gave her a gentle smile, misunderstanding the reason for the question. “I believe your parents loved him very much. I went to school with them. They were very close. If Sirius did betray them for his sister… I think that however upset they’d be, they would understand.”

“ _ I _ understand,” she admitted. “No offense, Lord Greengrass, but I’d do the same if it were Daphne or Harry.”

“I would expect the same from my girls,” he assured her. “Luckily, Voldemort is gone now.”

“You think so?” she asked before she could stop herself. The way Snape acted whenever they spoke of Voldemort hinted to her that maybe the Dark Lord wasn’t truly dead. 

“I never joined him,” he said bluntly. “But some of my friends did, and they seem just as hesitant as you. Perhaps I should have said he isn’t here right now.”

“Do you wonder why he disappeared that night?”

“We all do,” he nodded. “It is rumored that you and your brother stopped him.”

“Harry’s the one with the scar,” she shrugged. “I don’t think I did anything. I think I got very lucky that night. I just want to know where he went and how dangerous he is now.”

“These are very important questions,” he agreed. “And perhaps something we can discuss at a later date. For now, enjoy your vacation.”

“Thank you for letting us stay,” she said with a grateful smile. “And Mister Lupin.”

“I was not close with your parents, but it is my duty,” he explained. “As a part of the Potter Alliance, I believe it’s my job to help you both out. I’m sure your parents and grandparents would agree.”

“Potter Alliance?” Belle blinked. “I didn’t realize there was such a thing.”

“Oh, there was. The Potter Alliance was powerful. Dumbledore led the Light, the Black family led the Dark, but the Potters led the Grey. They were the first to unite us and they led us for… oh, sixty years, maybe."

“Does it still exist?”

Lord Greengrass shook his head. “Things have changed. When the Potter House fell, there was a grab for power. It got messy, and instead of the Grey still existing, everyone scattered to the Light or Dark. the Greengrasses are the only ones still in the middle, waiting for your family to return. The Dark is now run by the Malfoys, while the light has a significant amount of power with so many other Ancient and Noble Houses following Dumbledore.”

“This is all because our regent couldn’t do his job,” Belle realized. “If he could’ve, the Alliance would’ve remained until we’re old enough to run it. Who pushed forward the law banning werewolves from working for Ancient and Noble Houses?”

Lord Greengrass hummed, thinking back. “Let’s see… Umbridge proposed it. I would have to ask some others, but I believe Dumbledore put a great deal of support behind it. With the support of the Dark and Dumbledore campaigning for it in the Light, it was an easy win.”

“I knew it!” she exclaimed. “We have to fix this. We have to- he can’t control our family like that!” Lord Greengrass smiled at her, a light in his eyes that made her sit straighter and smile at him grimly. “Will you help me? I don’t know how to do this.”

He nodded once. “I believe, before anything else, you need lessons.”

“Lessons?”

“Politics,” he explained. “And the pureblood lessons you missed. Emma will help with those while you’re here and Daphne will continue to teach you at school. Luckily for you, you can appoint a regent while underage. Your current regent is Dumbledore.”

Belle made a face. “I don’t want him to touch our family ever again.” 

“He won’t.”

* * *

“She looks  _ evil _ ,” Blaise muttered, glancing at Belle as she came to join them in the kitchen. Theo and Harry looked up to see the grim smile and dark eyes. 

“Merlin, she does,” Theo agreed. Behind her, to their surprise, came Lord Greengrass, who joined them as well for tea. 

“Did you make her scary, Daddy?” Astoria asked, eyeing Belle, who let out a small laugh. “She’s got that look you get after seeing Lady Longbottom.”

“We were discussing politics,” Lord Greengrass informed them. Daphne and Astoria exchanged a look and stared at Belle. 

“What?” the girl asked. “He told me some things about the way my family has been handled that I do not like, so I’m going to change it.”

“ _ How _ ?” Harry asked her as she came to sit with him. “We’re eleven, Belle.”

“Luckily for us, we don’t have to be any specific age to set a regent,” she told him. 

“Who is it right now?” he wondered. She hesitated. 

“Well, that doesn’t matter, because it’s going to be Lord Greengrass.”

“Good idea,” Theo nodded. “The Greengrasses were basically the second in charge in the Potter Alliance. They should’ve taken over when your parents died.”

“Belle, we’ve got so much going on,” Harry complained. “And you want to get into politics now, too?”

“Of course she does,” Daphne answered for her. “You know how mad she is about Dumbledore, you think she’d be  _ calm _ upon learning he’s your regent?”

“Dumbledore is our regent?” Harry asked with a frown. He wanted to tell her that he supported her, but the only words he could even begin to say were to leave it, so he stayed silent instead. 

There was a chime from a room nearby and Lord Greengrass got to his feet, walking over. When he came back in, it was with a tall, sandy-haired man. He had scars across his face that were telling of his lycanthropy, but his grateful smile easily distracted from those scars. 

“Oh,” he said, his eyes falling on the twins. They offered him a smile each while Lord Greengrass began herding the rest of the kids out of the room. Once everyone else was gone, the man sat down across from them. 

“Have you met us before?” Harry asked when no one spoke. 

“I have,” he nodded. “I met you a week after you were born. You pulled on my hair and eventually started calling me ‘Uncle Mooey.’”

Belle let out a short, surprised laugh. “Really? Why?”

“My nickname was Moony,” he explained. “Your dad’s was Prongs.”

“Why, though?” Harry asked curiously. 

Belle smacked her brother. “He means, why was Dad nicknamed Prongs?”

Lupin looked between them. “I gather you know of my condition?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Well, my friends, including your father, wanted to help me on full moons. They became Animagi to do that. Your father was a stag.”

“Who else did that?” Harry questioned, excited to learn more about their parents. 

“Peter Pettigrew,” Lupin said slowly. “He was a rat nicknamed Wormtail.”

Belle screwed up her face. “That sounds awful.”

“He didn’t like it much,” Lupin laughed. “And then there was…”

“Sirius Black,” Belle guessed. He looked at her in surprise. “I’ve heard of him a few times.”

“Yes. He was a grim nicknamed Padfoot.”

“A grim, that’s the scary death thing?” Harry asked, remembering what the Weasley twins had told him once before the break. They’d become a sort of friends after that day at the lake, often including him in their pranks.

“It is,” Lupin confirmed. “We called ourselves the Marauders.”

Harry gasped, his eyes widening comically. 

“What?” Belle asked. When he didn’t answer, she made a face and shoved him. “Harry,  _ what _ ?”

“D’you have a map?”

Lupin blinked in surprise. “Yes, we did. How did you find it? Peter got it taken away just a few weeks before graduation.”

“Fred and George Weasley have it,” he explained. “I’ve seen them use it a few times. They worship you guys.”

“That belongs to you both,” he told them seriously. “We planned to give it to the first kids that we had, pass it down.”

“I don’t know if they’d give that up for anything less than meeting you,” Harry admitted. Lupin shook his head. 

“What do they think we did with it?”

“Pranks.”

“Oh. Well, they’re right.”

“Mister Lupin-,”

“Please, call me Remus.”

“Er, Remus,” Belle shook her head. “I know we’ve just met but I have some hard questions to ask you before we talk about our parents.” 

“Why now?” Harry complained. 

“Because I want to get it out of the way so we can enjoy talking about them,” she reasoned before looking back at Remus. “It’s about Sirius and everything that happened that night.”

“I see… I can’t promise I’ll know more than you, but I’ll do my best.”

“Okay. Sirius spent his entire life up until he was twenty-two defying his family, their bigoted views, and refusing Voldemort, right?”

“He did,” Remus confirmed softly. 

“And he was best friends with our dad and close with our mum?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you think he would, after being tortured by Bellatrix, join Voldemort?”

Remus sighed, and she saw the exhaustion in his eyes. She felt bad asking him such questions, but she needed to know. Harry might’ve wanted to move on, but she didn’t. She wanted to know what had really happened that night. She needed that. She didn’t want to think that their godfather had doomed them to a life with the Dursleys. 

“I don’t know,” he admitted, surprising her. 

“Everyone I’ve asked so far thinks it was because of his brother and sister.”

Remus shook his head. “The days between Regulus and Cassiopeia’s deaths, Sirius was with us. He drank a lot and was out of commission for some time. He was with someone at all times - he had no time to sneak off and become a Death Eater.”

“Oh,” Harry frowned, interested now. “But… then why would he do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay, but look,” Belle sighed. She hadn’t admitted to anyone just how much she’d looked into that night, nor how much it had been driving her crazy. “That night, Sirius gave us over to Hagrid willingly, along with his motorcycle, something that could’ve been a great means of escape. Then, for no apparent reason, he tracked down Peter Pettigrew and blew up the street after Pettigrew yelled asking him how he could’ve done something like that. Muggles were killed, but Pettigrew was completely blown up. Only his finger was left.”

“The Black family isn’t known for being stable,” Remus told her after a moment. “I only saw that in Sirius a few times, but I have seen it.”

“When?”

“I’m sorry?”

“When did you see that instability?”

Remus frowned. “Once when Snape called Lily a terrible name and once when someone attacked Narcissa.”

“Only when people he cares about are hurt.”

“Yes, but-,”

“No, look,” she shook her head. “Sirius didn’t get a trial. They just threw him in Azkaban. And if, after hearing all of this, you can tell me that you don’t have any doubts that it was Sirius who betrayed our parents, I’ll drop it. But can you?”

Remus stared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment. As confident as she was in her information, she was also very uncomfortable with confronting him with all of it. 

“You are a great deal like Lily,” he said after a long moment. “It goes beyond your hair.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, aware it had been a compliment. 

“I have never believed that Sirius could do something like that,” Remus admitted. “But who else? He was the Secret Keeper. No one else could share their location.”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But at least we know it wasn’t him.”

* * *

**December 25th, 1991**

**Greengrass Manor**

“Is that an invisibility cloak?” Theo asked, amazed. 

“Better yet, are those  _ knives _ ?” Blaise questioned, staring at Belle’s hands. 

“Oh, my,” Remus breathed, looking at the twins. “I didn’t think I’d see those again.”

“What are they?” Harry wondered, putting his hand under the cloak and watching it disappear. 

“That cloak has been in your family for centuries,” Remus explained. “It is the oldest working Invisibility cloak in the world. Keep it close and don’t give it to anyone. It goes to the sons of the House. Your father got it at your age, too.”

“It’s cool,” Harry decided with a grin as Remus moved to Belle, who carefully removed one of the two daggers from its sheath.

“These were given to your mum by your grandmother,” he said softly. “In our fourth year. It was curious because the two had only met a few times, and she gave the heirloom to her. Your mum became brilliant at handling them. They’re charmed so that, when you’re strong enough, you can use them instead of wands and sort of throw spells along with the daggers. They’ll also return to the sheaths after you throw them.”

“So you’re saying Harry got an invisibility cloak and she got daggers?” Astoria asked. “That’s so cool.”

“You need to be very careful with these,” Remus instructed seriously. “Only practice with an adult around.”

“But who sent them?” she wondered, sticking the dagger back in the sheath. “Who would have these? Shouldn’t they be in the vaults?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “So keep them close.”

* * *

**January 24th, 1992**

**Hagrid’s Hut**

“Quirrel is one of the teachers protecting the stone,” Hagrid told them stubbornly. “He’s not trying to steal it. Come on, I’m a bit preoccupied today.”

“Wait,  _ one _ of the teachers?” Harry questioned.

“Of course,” Belle nodded quickly. It made sense. “There are other things defending the stone. Spells, enchantments.”

“That’s right,” Hagrid agreed. “Waste of bloody time if you ask me. Ain’t no one gonna get past Fluffy. Ain’t a soul knows how except for me and Dumbledore.”

Belle ignored his frustrated statement of “I shouldn’t have told you that” and looked around him at the kettle jostling in the fireplace. Hagrid reached in and picked up a large egg, shuffling over to set it down on the table quickly. The four of them made their way over to look at it. 

“Um, Hagrid, what is that?” Harry asked nervously. 

“That’s a dragon egg,” Theo answered him, wide-eyed. 

“How did you get one?” Draco questioned with a frown. 

“I won it,” Hagrid smiled happily. “Off a stranger I met down in the pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, matter of fact.” 

Theo tugged Belle backward as the egg began to break open, and she barely had time to grab Harry’s shirt and tug him back. He grabbed Draco, and soon the four of them stepped away in time to duck the pieces of sharp shell that were thrown violently around the hut. They stared at the little green dragon as it got its bearings and looked around at them curiously, chirping at them in greeting.

“That’s a Norwegian Ridgeback,” Theo gasped. 

“Isn’t he beautiful?” Hagrid asked, tearing up. The dragon turned to him and struggled to move closer. “Oh, bless him. Look, he knows his mummy. Hello, Norbert.”

“ _ Norbert _ ?” Draco stared, wide-eyed.

“He’s gotta have a name, don’t he?” Hagrid reached down to pet the dragon with a goofy smile. “Don’t you, Norbert?”

* * *

**January 31st, 1992**

**Potions Classroom**

“Hagrid has a dragon.”

Snape froze, his quill dropping onto his desk. As much as he wished he’d misheard, he knew he hadn’t. He looked up to find a frustrated Belle walked over to him, where she huffed and dropped into the chair in front of him. “Explain.”

“Look, I love Hagrid, but it isn’t- it’s dangerous! And I know it’s just a baby now, but it’ll get big and people die just learning to handle dragons, so how can he expect to handle Norbert-,”

“Norbert?” 

“That’s what he’s named it,” she explained. At his stare, she shook herself. “I’m sorry. Harry and I have been arguing over it for a week. I wanted to tell you right away, but he convinced me not to, but now he’s being a prat and I’m really worried and I should’ve just told you right away. I’m sorry, Professor.”

“How did you find out that he has a dragon?” 

Belle breathed out slowly. “So we were arguing about how Quirrell is trying to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone-,”

Snape pressed his fingers to his temples and took in a long, deep breath. “And how did you come to this realization?”

“Well, after he tried to drown Harry in the Black Lake.”

“ _ Belle _ .”

She shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t typically use her first name, and when he did, she knew how serious he was, how concerned he was. So, she quieted. “I wanted to tell you. Harry didn’t want us to make a big deal of it, though.”

“Belle,” he said again, looking concerned and a little frustrated. “If something happens, come to me. You need to be safe for once. No one can protect you if we are unaware of the threats.”

“I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I promise I’ll tell you if something happens again.”

“Tell me how you found out about the Stone.”

“Hagrid,” she admitted. “We were talking to him and he let it slip that whatever was being guarded by Fluffy was between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel, and it was easy to realize from then on.” 

“And who have you told?”

“Just our friends,” she assured him. “So me, Harry, Theo, Draco, Blaise, and Daphne. No one else.”

“Keep it that way,” he instructed. “Tell me what you know so far.”

“Okay. We know that Fluffy is guarding the stone and that Quirrell is trying to steal it. We know that he let the troll in and you must’ve gone to stop him and that’s how you got hurt, and we know that he wants Harry dead.”

“If anything else on the matter comes up, come to me first.”

“I will, I promise.”

With a firm nod, the matter was set aside. “Occlumency.”

Belle readjusted to sit with her legs crossed and made eye contact. “Go ahead.”

With her consent, he cast the spell. 

_ “Leave me alone!” A seven-year-old Belle shouted, tears streaming down her face. Dudley stood over her with his fists closed tightly. His large frame was a startling sight compared to the slight one of Belle, whose hair was braided messily.  _

_ “I’m  _ bored _ ,” Dudley replied. He reached down and grabbed her by her braid and tugged her upward. She let out a whimper and stood, following him as quickly as she could down the hall and to the stairs.  _

_ “Your parents will be angry if they have to take me to the doctor as well,” she tried, eyeing the staircase nervously. She’d stopped walking and was holding onto the wall to resist following him. He put his weight into it, trying to pull her.  _

_ “At you,” he pointed out. When he pulled back, leaning part of his weight on her to tear her back to him, her hair tore halfway down the braid, and he fell down the stairs. Instead of running away, she took a moment to gather herself and ran down to help him. _

“I hate that,” Belle muttered when he ended the spell. She was tense and anxious, her hands shaking softly. “That was my first accidental magic, I think. Harry had broken his arm so Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon took him to the doctor and left me at home with Dudley. He was fine. I spent four days in the cupboard for pushing him down the stairs."

“Would you like to stop for the night?” 

She shook her head, shoving her hair over her shoulder. “I’m fine, I promise. Go ahead.”

He met her eyes again and, once more, cast the spell.

_ “Hurry up,” Harry called, dragging Belle toward the pool. “Aunt Petunia said we only have two hours.” _

_ “Aunt Petunia won’t notice we’re back until dinner,” she pointed out, stopping to pick up her fallen towel. Before she could grab it, someone else did, handing it over to her. The woman was tall and wore heels and a black dress with lace. Her wild black hair and silver eyes felt somehow familiar. A terrible anxiety bubbled up in Belle to meet the crippling migraine. Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her along to the chairs, where they left their things before entering the pool with the other neighborhood children.  _

_ It was an hour later when that same, scary woman jumped straight into the pool, her dress and heels still on. The only reason Belle noticed her was because Harry had turned to see who had splashed them. The woman grabbed Belle’s head and shoved it under, and she flailed, trying to escape. She wasn’t sure what happened, but when she came to, she was in the grass on top of her towel with Harry frowning down at her.  _

“Ugh,” Belle made a face. “I was so mad. We never got to go swimming. The only reason we got to go that day is because the neighbors apparently commented on how rarely we left the house.”

“Miss Potter…” Snape trailed off, apparently unsure how to approach the conversation. “Do you know who that was?”

“Bellatrix Lestrange,” she confirmed. “Theo and Blaise told us. Travers tried to push Harry in front of a bus, too. We only put it all together because of the-,”

“What?”

Belle paused. Snape was a Death Eater. She hadn’t forgotten that, but she also didn’t think he knew that she knew. “Er- I get that sick, anxious feeling and the horrible headache around Death Eaters. Er- most Death Eaters. Not all of them, I guess.”

Just as she’d guessed, he tensed. “That sounds highly unlikely.”

“Bellatrix, Travers, Lord Nott, Lord Malfoy. You’re… actually the only one that doesn’t bother me. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

“You know.”

“Well… yeah,” she shrugged. “We told Draco on the train after Blaise dragged me out to meet his father because he wanted to test his Death Eater allergy theory, and then at the feast, Draco asked how I felt looking at you and told me you’re a Death Eater. That’s why we’re confused, actually. It doesn’t make sense.”

“When your mother found out, she ended our friendship for good.”

Belle could see the rare vulnerability in him and was unsure how to handle the situation. “But you’re helping me, Professor. I think she’d forgive you, and if not, then I think she’s wrong. You care more about us than anyone I’ve met yet, even Remus or Lord Greengrass. I appreciate that and I wish we’d have known you sooner.”

* * *

**May 18th, 1992**

**Slytherin Common Room**

“ _ Why were you out there _ ?” 

“Detention from Flitwick,” Harry grumbled, smacking her concerned hands away. “I’m  _ fine _ . But Quirrell doesn’t want the stone for himself. He wants it for Voldemort. With the Elixir of Life, Voldemort will be strong again. He’ll come back.”

“He’s going to kill you,” Belle whispered, wrapping him up in a tight, scared hug. “Oh my god.”

“If he comes back, he’ll kill all of us,” Draco said shortly. “But yes, he’ll kill Harry first.”

Daphne elbowed him in the ribs.

* * *

**May 19th, 1992**

**Potions Classroom**

“Professor.”

“Miss Potter,” Snape greeted, looking up from his desk. Class was currently in, making her appearance in his office quite suspicious. He had third years - Gryffindors, if the sight of the twins said anything - brewing a potion, leaving him to wait. She ducked into his office and waited for him as he checked on the students and walked back to see her. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes, actually,” she nodded. “Not me. Well, probably me when I get detention for skipping class to come to see you, but it’s urgent. You told me to come to you right away if something happened.”

“What has happened?”

“Okay, so… last night, Harry had detention, right? Well, he went out to the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid because someone has been attacking unicorns - I know, reckless and dangerous and I have a lot to say to Hagrid - well, he found Voldemort’s shade feeding on a unicorn. Professor, Quirrell wants the Stone to bring him back!”

Snape grabbed a quill and parchment and scribbled a few things down. He set that aside, wrote another short note, and handed it over to Belle. “Thank you for telling me. I will inform Professor Dumbledore and take care of it. This will excuse Harry and yourself from the rest of your classes today. Go back to your dorms and stay there until I find you.”

“But Professor-,”

“Belle,” he said sharply, quieting her. “Go.”

“Yes, Professor,” she muttered, taking the note from him. 

* * *

Belle sat on a bed next to Harry with her legs pulled to her chest, watching him sleep. Madam Pomfrey had kicked her out while she was healing him, but since she’d finished, she was allowed back in, and she’d been sitting next to her brother ever since. She’d been healed of her few injuries early on and was only concerned for Harry. 

“Miss Potter.” 

She turned in surprise to see Snape making his way into the infirmary, walking over to her with obvious frustration on his face. She winced at the sight, guilt flooding her. “Professor!” 

“What about the sentence ‘I will inform Professor Dumbledore and we will take care of it’ did you not understand?”

She blushed lightly. “Harry ran off, and Draco followed him, and I just  _ knew _ they’d get injured or killed if they went alone, so I  _ had _ to follow them. And I couldn’t very well just leave them there when I realized it was Devil’s Snare, they would’ve died, so I had to go with them.”

Snape shook his head tiredly. “Detention, Miss Potter, for recklessly risking your own life. Ten points to Slytherin, however, for saving your friends.”

He walked off before she could think of a reply. 

Had she just been punished and rewarded in the same breath?

* * *

**May 20th, 1992**

**Slytherin Boys’ Dorm**

“You could’ve died,” Theo complained, hugging her tighter. She sighed into the hug and relaxed against her friend. “Devil’s Snare kills hundreds of wizards a year!” 

“But not me,” she reminded him softly. “I’m fine.”

“No, I’m with Theo,” Blaise commented. “You’re a bloody idiot. You should be in Gryffindor.” 

“Draco went too!” She defended. 

“Draco can be trusted to do such stupid things,” Daphne said, rolling her eyes at the way the boy in question stared, offended. “But you’re supposed to be smarter! Why didn’t you go to Snape? You’ve been doing just that all year.”

“There wasn’t time,” she sighed, rubbing her forehead. “It’s not like this was my idea!”

“Yeah, but you’re easiest to yell at.”

* * *

**June 20th, 1992**

**King’s Cross Station**

“We’ll be  _ fine _ ,” Harry assured their friends as the train pulled into the station. “Seriously, we’ve made it this far, haven’t we?”

“What if they kill you or some shit over summer?”

All of the friends stared at Blaise, who just shrugged a little. 

“We’re going to be fine,” Belle assured him. “We’ll write if we can and we’re spending the last two weeks with Daphne, same as you and Theo.”

“And me,” Draco added. “Father agreed to it finally.”

“Come on,” Harry sighed, taking Belle’s hand within his own. They walked slowly out of the compartment and off the train with their friends following them. Draco was the first to abandon them, simply for the fact that his father would’ve lost it, seeing him associate with muggles. 

“Write us,” Theo said loudly as soon as they got into earshot of Vernon. “If you don’t, our parents will come check on you.”

“Father will call Remus,” Daphne said, this time being serious. “Tell us if there’s anything wrong.”

“We’ll see you in August,” Belle said, hugging her friends. Harry did the same and, after glaring at Vernon, they all left the twins to return to their family. 

The family they’d never been supposed to go to.

* * *


	5. Regent

**August 15th, 1992**

**Diagon Alley**

That summer was, overall, normal. Their magic things were locked up immediately upon getting home, the only things that  _ weren’t _ locked up being the daggers, which just appeared back on Belle every time they were removed. She gave one to Harry and the pair held onto them for safety. Still, they got hurt. There were a few cuts and bruises, and it was Belle that had a broken wrist, the same one she’d hurt the year before.

Returning to Greengrass Manor was exciting. Daphne and Astoria were full of energy and ready to go shopping for their things, which was what they had planned for the day. Theo, Blaise, and Draco planned to go home with them after shopping, meaning that their parents would be there as well. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Belle stared at the sight in the window. 

“I know.”

She spun around, her eyes settling on Theo. A grin spread across her face and she wrapped him up in a hug. “He brings us together for the second year in a row. I suppose he’s good for something.”

“He is to be your Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.”

Belle stepped back and did her best not to wince at the sight of Lord Nott, who was standing with a woman watching them. She bowed her head respectfully as Daphne had taught her the year before. “Hello, sir. He’s really going to be teaching us?”

“It was confirmed last week,” the woman next to him agreed. “Lady Elora Zabini.”

“Oh! You must be Blaise’s Mum. It’s very nice to meet you,” she said, despite the pain that increased at the sight of her. 

“Where’s everyone else?” Theo asked, tugging gently on her arm. She hissed out when his hand hit her wrist and avoided the concerned gaze. 

“They’re coming. I ran ahead to try and get in line since it’s so long.”

“Speaking of the line,” Lady Zabini nodded. “We will be getting in it. You kids go ahead and catch up.”

Belle watched her and Lord Nott move away and breathed in relief when the pain slowly went away. “Was she-,”

“She was,” Blaise nodded. “Couldn’t really warn you before today, though.”

“Yeah, about that,” Theo frowned, tugging her away from the crowd. “You promised to write.”

“We tried,” she shook her head, glancing around to make sure no one could hear. “But as soon as Harry let it slip that we aren’t allowed to do magic outside of school, they locked up Hedwig and only let her out to feed her. Even Icarus was taken away - he went to stay with Mrs. Figg.”

“Shit,” Blaise cursed loudly. “You hurt?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“ _ Harry _ ,” she hissed angrily. He shrugged, making his way over with their friends. 

“I planned to find you potions or whatever anyway,” he admitted. 

“You’re hurt?” Astoria asked, concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“Your wrist,” Theo realized. He grabbed it and pushed her sleeve up carefully, wincing at the sight of the dark bruising around it. “Merlin, Belle, that’s broken.”

“I was going to ask Snape to help me,” she promised, taking it away from him again. “I’m just focused on pain relief.”

“Then let’s get you a pain potion,” Theo suggested. “The apothecary is right there.”

“...okay.”

* * *

“Got all the signed copies?” Draco teased Harry, walking down the stairs to cut them off. Belle grinned brightly and moved to hug him, but Theo stopped her, nodding just outside of the store. She followed his gaze and saw what he saw - Lucius Malfoy. She was surprised how much they truly looked alike and forced her gaze back to her friend. 

“Oh yeah, I’ve got a bigger crush than Mrs. Weasley,” Harry rolled his eyes. They had, when schedules clashed, stayed with the Weasleys for a couple of days, resulting in a friendship with Ginny and a reluctant one with Ron, at least on Belle’s part. Ron and Ginny were walking with them then, having run into them in the bookstore.

“Hey!” Ron complained.

“Famous Harry Potter,” Draco joked. “Can’t even go to a bookstore without making the front page.” 

Ginny stepped in front of Harry and got in Draco’s face. “Leave him alone.” 

“Got yourself a little girlfriend, Potter?” Draco laughed. Belle rolled her eyes at her friend, but Lucius stepped forward, reading the situation completely wrong, and put his hand on Draco’s shoulder. 

“Now, now, Draco, play nicely,” the man requested. Draco stiffened, his smile falling from his lips, and he stepped to the side for his father. “Mister Potter. Lucius Malfoy. We meet at last.” He tugged Harry’s arm and shoved his hair out of the way to look at his scar, making Belle uneasy. “Forgive me. Your scar is legend. As, of course, is the wizard who gave it to you."

“Voldemort killed my parents,” Harry shot back, stepping away from the blonde. “He was nothing more than a murderer.”

“You must be very brave to mention his name,” Lucius spoke slowly. “Or very foolish.”

“Fear of a name only increases fear of a thing itself,” Belle told him sharply. Lucius turned to her, and she felt Theo’s grip on her hand tighten nervously. 

“Ah, Miss Potter,” Lucius commented. “Yes, Draco’s told me all about you… and your guardians.” 

Her eyes widened nervously, and she turned to Draco. She only saw him shake his head very minimally before she turned back to the man. 

“Muggles, aren’t they?” he wondered. 

“They are. And better people than you’ll ever be,” she lied, mostly because Lucius was making her angry.

Harry looked at her like she was crazy, and she firmly ignored him. 

“You’ve got… spirit,” he rolled his eyes. “Cute.” His gaze fell on Ron and Ginny, and Theo tugged her away from the group with Blaise close behind. 

“You’re going to make yourself a target,” Theo hissed at her once they were in the nearly empty upstairs part of the store. “What are you doing?” 

“He’s vile!” 

“And you’re vulnerable,” Blaise told her. “If you think purebloods can’t just make muggleborns and even halfbloods disappear, you’re wrong.” 

“What do you mean?” she frowned, looking between her friends. 

Theo answered her quietly. “You know Moaning Myrtle?” 

“Of course.”

“She’s a muggleborn that got murdered in the school. They didn’t look into it - just took her body away because apparently, their best suspect was pureblood, I guess. Or a powerful halfblood. You’ve got no one to protect you.” 

“That’s horrible,” she whispered. 

“That’s why you have to be careful.” 

She hummed in response with no promises given. 

* * *

**August 23rd, 1992**

**Greengrass Manor**

“This is ridiculous,” Belle said, looking between her friends and their mother. “You are joking, right?”

“Nope,” Daphne shook her head. 

“Not at all,” Astoria said before pausing. “But I fully agree, it’s stupid.”

Emma shook her head fondly. “These things are important to know, girls. What you do with that information is wholly up to you. For now, answer me.”

“In a room of Lords, Ladies must not speak until they are spoken to,” Astoria answered easily, making a face of disgust. “I am going to absolutely  _ destroy _ the patriarchy. Wanna help, Belle?”

“ _ Yes _ .”

When the lesson was finished, Astoria followed Belle out to the yard to meet Lord Greengrass, much to her surprise.

“I know you are expecting Mister Lupin, but he had to cancel,” he explained. “He requested I help you today.”

“You know how?” Belle asked him in surprise, pulling the daggers from the sheaths while Astoria placed herself on the grass, wards already up to protect her. 

“What you will be working on is casting through the daggers,” he explained. “You’ve already nearly perfected throwing them. Casting through anything other than a wand is essentially wandless magic. It will take a long time to learn.”

“You think I can?” she frowned, throwing a dagger at a target as they spoke. “I thought that was difficult.”

“It is,” he agreed. “Which is why we begin now and you will continue at school with Snape.”

Belle looked at him, surprised. “He knows wandless magic?”

“He is truthfully incredibly powerful,” he confirmed. “Let’s get started.”

* * *

**September 1st, 1992**

**Potions Classroom**

“This will take a while to heal.”

“I figured,” she winced as he cast a spell. It felt like the spell had broken it again, and his frown told her that it had.

“It healed incorrectly,” he explained. “Now, we will put it in a magical cast - it is like the splint except you will keep it on longer and will hold it still. Do not take it off. Be very careful, Miss Potter. This wrist will break much easier now. The cast will help with that, but be careful.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Be very careful,” he told her strictly. “Our meetings will be four times a week now unless we can manage two hour sessions instead of one. Two hours a week for Occlumency and two hours with the daggers.”

“When do we start?”

“Tomorrow.”

* * *

The tears running down Belle’s cheeks were hot and wet, and she swiped at them with her arm as she ran toward the potion’s classroom, keeping her head down as she went. Classes were over for the day, but she knew Snape would be there - his office hours didn’t end for another thirty minutes. 

She walked in and sniffled quietly, holding her stomach as she walked. Someone was in Snape’s office, and she sat on a desk, waiting for five agonizing minutes as they finished up. Her head was down, staring at her hands, as the student made their way out of the room, and she looked up to find Snape standing at his door, very still. 

“Miss Potter,” he greeted slowly, taking in her tears. “Are you alright?” 

She shook her head a little, not trusting her voice. 

“Are you hurt?” 

With a nod, she moved her hand to show him her hip, and he moved over to her immediately. His wand was out, and he gently put a hand on her shoulder to make her sit down again. 

“What curse was it?” 

“I think… Defodio?” She frowned. “I’m not sure I heard right.” 

“That’s a gouging spell,” he explained while casting spells on her hip to heal her. “I’d imagine it only grazed you.”

“I think so,” she nodded shakily, sucking in a deep breath. He summoned two potions from his shelves and handed her one while gently dripping the other one onto her hip. She hissed in pain as it began stitching her skin back together. 

“This is dittany,” he told her. “It hurts, but it’ll heal you.” 

“Drink this?” she wondered, nodding to the bottle in her hand. He nodded silently as he worked and she carefully tipped it back, sighing with relief as it began to work immediately. “Thank you, Professor.” 

He was quiet as he finished healing her, and when he was done, he leaned back to look at her. She’d stopped crying, and she felt much better already. “What happened?” 

“I was walking back to the common rooms because I’d finished my befuddlement draught essay, and some fifth years stopped me and told me I was sullying their House,” she scowled. “They tried to hex me but I managed to move, and Lee was nearby so he put up a shield for me, and it only barely hit me. He chased them off so I could get here.” 

“Lee…?” 

“Lee Jordan,” she clarified. He looked at her in horror, and she laughed lightly. “He’s friends with the Weasley twins, who sort of took Harry and I under their wing last year.”

Snape nodded tightly. “You’ll need another pain potion in the morning, and I’d advise you try not to move too much tonight. This skin is still tight and new.” 

“Thank you, Professor.” 

* * *

**October 31st, 1992**

**Hogwarts Corridor**

“Voice, what voice?” Belle looked around for someone, but only she, Harry, Theo, and Ron stood in the corridor. 

“I heard it first in Lockhart’s office, and then again just-,” he cut off abruptly, his eyes on the walls behind them. “It’s moving… I think it’s going to kill.” He took off, and the three of them followed, questioning him all the way as they ran through the dark hallways. They came upon a hall with a damp floor and turned to the right, following their friend until he came to a stop at the sight of spiders crawling up and out a window. Theo’s hand slipped into Belle’s and she wondered who was being comforted by the act. “Strange… I’ve never seen spiders act like that.” 

“I don’t like spiders,” Ron muttered nervously. He looked down and frowned at the water. “What’s that?” 

“ _ The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware _ .” Belle read aloud. “It’s written in blood.”

“Oh no,” Harry’s eyes widened as he walked forward. “It’s Filch’s cat. It’s Mrs. Norris.” 

Crowds came up from each side of the hall, filling with Gryffindor and Slytherin students, and Belle gasped as Theo gripped her hand and pulled her hard into the crowd of Slytherins. They’d been standing close by and were soon swallowed into the large group, leaving Harry and Ron alone at the front as Filch approached. 

“This is really bad,” Draco hissed as he found his way over. “If that’s real-,”

“We have no proof it is,” Daphne reminded him. 

“If it’s real, you’re in danger,” Draco told Belle. “You and Harry both.”

“But  _ why _ ?” 

“Because, the Heir would be the Heir of Slytherin,” Theo whispered. “And the last Heir of Slytherin was Voldemort.” 

“Be careful,” Astoria muttered as she finally pushed through to meet them. “Snape’s  _ pissed _ .” 

The group of Slytherins separated as Dumbledore yelled, interrupting Filch in his quest to strangle Harry. Belle’s friends grabbed her and pulled her away as the students began to disperse, and they had to pull her harder when she tried to go back for her brother. 

* * *

**November 11th, 1992**

**Quidditch Pitch**

“Not to worry, Harry, I will fix that arm of yours straight away,” Lockhart declared. 

“No,” Harry said hesitantly. “Not you.” 

“Boy doesn’t know what he’s saying-,”

“Yes, he does,” Belle cut in. “He’s injured, he needs Madam Pomfrey. You’re not a trained Healer, so don’t touch him.” 

“But I can-,” 

She got in his face. “You are a fraud and I know it and my friends know it. If you touch Harry, everyone else will know it, too. Especially because I’m certain that whatever you do to him will backfire.” 

Lockhart narrowed his eyes at her as he released Harry. “The girl has a point, we may want to wait for Madam Pomfrey. She’s got the pain potion, after all.” 

“Good.” 

Harry still had to stay in the Hospital Wing overnight because of a concussion, but luckily he was given a rather painless potion. 

It wasn’t until he came to Belle, Theo, and Draco the next day that they knew anything was up. 

“ _ Dobby _ ?” Draco stared in disbelief. 

“He sent a bloody bludger after me,” Harry grumbled. “He wants us to leave.” 

“Dobby!” Draco called. The small elf appeared and, upon seeing his Master and Harry together, gasped loudly. 

“M-Master Draco, sir.” 

“Dobby, I order you to stop trying to convince Harry to go home,” Draco said. Dobby sagged, a pout falling over his face. “And to tell us why you want him to leave.” 

The elf’s eyes widened. “But Master Lucius-,”

“Master Lucius bought you for me,” Draco told him. “You only care for him while I’m at school - I am your Master, not him. Tell me.” 

“Master Draco’s father gave the little girl a book, the soul book, and it opened the Chamber of Secrets,” the elf said. “The soul is controlling the beast, killing, petrifying!” 

“What soul book? What beast?” Draco frowned. “What soul?” 

“The book, it hold the soul of Tom Riddle,” Dobby said, looking frustrated. “The beast… Dobby doesn’t be knowing. It hisses in the walls.” 

“I can speak… snake,” Harry winced at the description. “If there’s a snake in the wall, I can understand it. That’s what I heard the other night.” 

“You’re a parslemouth?” Theo asked him in surprise. “That’s rare.” 

“I accidentally set a python on my cousin Dudley in the zoo once,” he frowned. Belle nodded quickly. 

“The snake tried to go after me and only stopped when Harry told it not to.”

“Dobby,” Draco said. “Do not tell Father anything we’ve spoken about, or that I called you.” 

“Yes, Master Draco, sir.” 

* * *

**January 4th, 1993**

**Slytherin Common Rooms**

“It’s not funny,” Belle complained as Harry and Daphne laughed at her. “I thought there was something wrong! I thought someone was crying.” 

“Someone  _ was _ crying,” Daphne giggled. “Moaning Myrtle.”

“I don’t get it,” she sighed. “She’s so young. She died there.”

“All the ghosts I’ve met brag about their deaths,” Harry told her. “She didn’t say anything?” 

“She just kinda moaned at me.” 

“Ask her,” Daphne suggested. “If you’re that curious.” 

Belle nodded, filing away in her to-do list.

* * *

**February 1st, 1993**

**Ministry of Magic**

“You sure I won’t get in trouble for this?” Belle asked nervously, pulling her dress down. It was one she’d borrowed from Daphne, who had enjoyed dressing her for the day. Harry had opted out of the scary visit and, while annoyed, she could admit that he would likely only distract her while she was so nervous. 

“I promise,” Lord Greengrass nodded, leading her over to the public section. “Members of Ancient and Noble Houses are allowed to leave school for House business. And Snape excused you for the day. You only have to be here until we pass your family business. After that, Emma will come to bring you back to Hogwarts.”

Belle nodded a little and sat down where he told her to, in a seat a little bit out of view. They didn’t want Dumbledore to see her and try to send her back to school. Once she was seated and he’d made sure she had her wand and daggers on her, he slipped away to take his seat. 

The session began shortly thereafter and they got straight into House affairs, just as Lord Greengrass had said they would. 

“Lord Amycus Carrow would like to announce the passing of his father, Adnan. He has taken over Lordship. There is no heir at this time.”

“Recognized,” Dumbledore nodded. The man reading off the list looked down, skimming the page until he paused. “Mister Penbrook, if you could continue.”

“We have only one other House matter today,” he said slowly, his eyes scanning the public seats until he finally found her. “For the House of Potter.”

“I’ve submitted no House Matters,” Dumbledore told him, confused. “Surely there is a mistake.”

Penbrook looked down to read the note. “The House of Potter thanks Albus Dumbledore for his service to their House for these past years, but will be replacing him as regent with Lord Daniel Greengrass.”

“Daniel?” Dumbledore asked, his head shooting to the man. “What do you know of this?”

“Miss Potter and I have been speaking quite a bit,” he explained, nodding to Belle. “And she and Harry would like more control over their House. They agreed it would be best to keep their regent someone within the old Alliance.”

“The Alliance fell years ago,” Dumbledore said slowly. “I have led their House successfully.”

“With all due respect, Professor,” Belle spoke up. “You have not led it in a direction we approve of. Our regent was meant to be Remus Lupin, but you pushed through a bill that kept him from working for any Ancient and Noble House. We simply want our House back.”

“But you know nothing of our politics, our world.”

“She does,” Daniel disagreed. “We have been teaching her. She knows what she’s doing, Albus, and quite frankly, it doesn’t matter if you disagree. House matters are not up for discussion, only announced to be acknowledged.”

“...recognized.”

* * *

**March 1st, 1993**

**Dueling Room**

The annoyance on Snape’s face was almost enough to make it worth coming to the stupid dueling club. 

“We’ll be sending Weasley to the hospital wing in a matchbox,” Snape told Lockhart. “Might I suggest someone from my own house?” 

Lockhart raised an eyebrow. 

“Miss Potter, perhaps?” 

Belle blinked in surprise. He wanted her to duel Neville? He twisted on his ankle and pointed at her, and she moved quickly, jumping up onto the platform. Snape said nothing as she passed him and met her friend in the middle with a small smile. 

“Wands at the ready,” Lockhart called. They raised their wands appropriately, and he grinned. 

“Not gonna go easy, are you?” Neville asked her. 

“Nope,” she replied, popping the ‘p’. 

They paced away from each other until they stared from opposite ends of the platform. 

“On the count of three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent - only to disarm. We don’t want any accidents here.”

At the count of three, Belle turned to her side and threw up a shield and Neville sent an  _ expelliarmus _ at her. It was absorbed into the shield easily, and she jumped to her left, raising her wand quickly. “ _ Melofors _ !” 

Laughs were heard as Neville’s head was encased in a large pumpkin, and he stumbled a little to keep his balance. While he was busy trying to rid himself of the pumpkin, she disarmed him easily, reaching out to grab the wand as it flew to her. Before Lockhart could try, she reversed her spell, and Neville blinked at the sudden brightness of the room, giving her a rueful smile.

“That went well!” Lockhart grinned. 

* * *

**March 12th, 1993**

**Slytherin Common Rooms**

Belle hit Harry with her books again. “You- are- such- an-  _ idiot! _ ”

He groaned and stepped out of the way. “It seemed like a good idea at the time!” 

Her glare was sharp, and her hair was sparking with anger. “We  _ know _ Tom Riddle is a bad person. We  _ know _ he’s controlling whatever is in the Chamber, and we  _ know _ that you  _ wrote in his book _ !” 

“Well, it’s gone now,” he sighed. “But I think he killed Moaning Myrtle, Belle.” 

She paused. “Really?” 

He nodded. “Her body was being taken out. They were at school together, and Hagrid. I think he framed Hagrid. He had a spider thing, and they expelled him.” 

“That… makes sense,” Belle nodded slowly. “Now we just need to figure out what it is that’s attacking people. I’ll do some research.” 

* * *

**March 14th, 1993**

**Infirmary**

Belle was rather angry with herself if she was being honest. She’d spent hours, days, in the library trying to figure out what could possibly be petrifying people - and in Myrtle’s time, killing - and she’d  _ finally _ found it. 

It was early on a Saturday morning - a Quidditch morning - and the library was empty. Most of the school, in fact, was outside studying or preparing for the upcoming game. She’d read about Basilisks and, in her haste, tore out the page. On her way to tell Snape, she’d run into it. Luckily for her, she’d borrowed a mirror from Ginny and hadn’t been killed, but she was no less upset.

She’d been petrified. And it was all her fault. 

* * *

She was awake for most visits. It drove her mad to see her friends and not be able to talk to them, but luckily, Harry, and Ron found the paper in her hand and ran off. She only wished she could go with them to make sure they didn’t get hurt. 

Draco, Blaise, Theo, Daphne, and Astoria visited her as well. She appreciated their company, and Theo spent hours skipping class and reading to her. It was calming, and she enjoyed listening to him read. 

She was even visited by Snape. He stood by her silently for what felt like hours before he muttered something she figured he didn’t think she heard and walked away. 

“I am  _ trying _ to protect you, stupid girl. Merlin knows Regulus can’t do it,” he’d muttered before leaving her alone to ponder his words.

* * *

**June 12th, 1993**

**Great Hall**

The Hall cheered loudly when Hagrid came back, just as they’d cheered loudly for the others that had returned, which included Justin Finch-Fletchley, Colin Creevey, Sir Nick, Penelope Clearwater, Mrs. Norris, and Belle. 

The Leaving Feast was a long affair with Dumbledore speaking of loyalty and bravery, both of which were clearly pointed at Belle and Harry. When the speech was over, the students ate and spoke amongst themselves, excited to go home to their families. 

All except for a select few who deeply preferred it at school. 

* * *


	6. Hogsmeade

**July 23rd, 1993**

**4 Privet Drive**

It happened when Belle knocked the trash can, which sat on the counter, onto the floor. The contents of the can were thrown out and around the bathroom, and she cursed and kneeled down to pick them up quickly before anyone noticed. She was on her knees, trying to shove the trash back into the can in a rush when someone entered the room. By the smell alone, she knew it was Dudley.

“What do you want? I’m busy.”

“You made a mess,” he accused. 

“Don’t you have video games to play or a show to watch?” she asked, throwing the last bit of trash in the can and setting it on the counter again as she stood. She was alarmed to notice Dudley step closer to her and she backed up, her breath catching when her back hit the counter. “Seriously, Dudley, leave me alone.”

“You’ve got work to do, haven’t you?” he asked, his voice low. He made her nervous, and she ducked to the side, trying to escape him. He followed her that way instead, backing her into the door. 

“I don’t know what you’re doing, but you need to stop it.”

“You have a lot of duties in this house,” he told her, stepping closer. “It’s time you take care of them.”

It was when his hand touched her hip that her hand dropped down to her thigh and tore her dagger from the sheath, pushing it up to his throat. “Don’t fucking touch me, Dudley.”

The boy let out a shout for his mother, making her gut churn with fear. She sliced at his arm, cutting it a little, and ran down the stairs to collect her and Harry’s things. Harry ran into the hall and caught sight of what she was doing. He began helping her without question and it was only when the pair were out of the house and three streets over that they stopped running and took a break at the nearby park. 

“Shit, Belle, what are we doing?” Harry asked in a terrified rush. Belle was working on grabbing Hedwig from her cage and scribbling down a rushed note. Once it was finished, she handed it off to Hedwig, who flew away. “Belle!”

“I don’t- I don’t know,” she shook her head, her hands shaking. She was gripping the dagger in her hand and had even cut her leg while running, and she stared down at the blood as she thought back to what had happened. “Dudley was- I don’t know, Harry. It scared me really bad. I don’t know what was happening, I just know- I knew we had to leave,  _ I _ had to leave.”

“Okay,” he told her slowly, rubbing her shoulder. “Who did you send that letter to?”

“Professor Snape,” she admitted. “He was the first person I thought of or I’d have written to Daphne and Astoria.”

“Probably good,” he admitted, eyeing her torn pant leg. “You’re hurt. Why did you have your dagger out? Better yet, why is it still out?”

“I’m scared,” she whispered. “He touched me and I just- I knew I needed it, so I cut his arm and ran.”

There was a loud crack, startling both kids, and Belle raised her dagger, ready to throw it at any potential danger. She breathed out in relief, however, at the sight of Snape a few feet away from them. He moved over immediately and kneeled down. 

“How?”

“My dagger,” she muttered. “I didn’t even realize I was still holding it while we were running.”

He nodded sharply and grabbed his wand, setting to work on healing the cut. It wasn’t too deep but would scar for the pure fact that he had no dittany on him. When he was finished, he put his wand away and looked between them. “What happened?”

“Dudley-,”

Belle shook her head. “I just got this feeling that whatever was going to happen was- it was worse, so I got away and we got our things and ran.”

Snape stared at her and took her in. She was shaking lightly and looked terrified. “Did someone hurt you?”

“No,” she promised. “No, I just- I think he was going to and I couldn’t-,”

“I trust her,” Harry told Snape. “If she says we had to go, we had to. We can just stay in Diagon Alley until school.”

“You will stay with the Greengrasses,” the older man disagreed. He cast a spell neither of them recognized and muttered a few quiet words. The silvery doe ran off, and he held his arms out to them. “I will Apparate you there.”

“I don’t want to impose,” Belle disagreed. “This is so sudden. We weren’t supposed to go over there until mid-August.”

“You will stay with them,” Snape said firmly. A silvery raven flew over and, to their surprise, a voice was heard.

“Bring them over,” Daniel Greengrass said. “It’s no problem. The girls are out for the day, but they’ll be back tonight.”

Hesitantly, Belle grabbed Snape’s arm. Harry did the same, relieved that she’d agreed, and Snape twisted on his ankle and sent them away. 

When they landed, they were in the middle of the sitting room where Daniel was waiting for them. He looked them over and then settled his eyes on Snape. “Thank you. I’ll take care of them now.”

Snape looked down at them. “I will see you when school begins.”

And with that, he left. 

* * *

**August 13th, 1993**

**Greengrass Library**

Belle was pacing in front of the table where her friends’ father sat, running her fingers through her hair in frustration. It had only just stopped sparking, but the man stayed quiet, waiting for her to calm down. “This is ridiculous! And so sexist!”

“I understand,” he told her. “Astoria certainly made it clear to me that women don’t need men. The rest of them, however… they don’t get it. It’s going to take time.”

“But what about Lady Longbottom?” she asked sharply, falling back into her seat. “She runs the House of Longbottom! And Lady Zabini!”

“The important thing about them, Belle, is that they began by working with their husbands. Elora may have been in charge of her House alone, but she did have a husband that everyone was comfortable assuming helped her a great deal. They are uncomfortable allowing us to officially form the Alliance again until you have a man to stand by your side, and since Harry so clearly is uninterested…”

“But there are things we need to do!”

“And I will continue to work toward those goals,” he promised her. “The Alliance is unofficial for now, but many of them agree with our views. They will help us.”

Belle breathed in sharply, her lips thinning. “May I be excused?”

“Go on,” he nodded. 

Belle rushed out of the room and down the stairs to Astoria’s bedroom, where everyone was hanging out. Her eyes settled on the younger girl, her hair sparking once more. The group stopped what they were doing to stare at her, and instead of words, she let out a small scream of frustration. 

“Oof, politics?” Daphne asked. Belle nodded shortly and sat on the floor next to Astoria. 

“I want to  _ destroy _ them!” 

“Who?” Harry asked, earning himself a glare.

“ _ Men _ ,” she growled. “And all of the misogynistic assholes that think I’m not smart enough to turn our House around - the ones that  _ refuse _ to allow us to officially reform the Potter Alliance just because I’m a girl!”

“Ew,” Astoria made a face. 

“They might do it if you were betrothed to someone,” Daphne pointed out, rolling her eyes at the dark glare she got. “I’m not saying I agree with them, I’m just trying to find you a way to work around their ridiculous rules.”

“I’m  _ not _ going to be betrothed,” Belle spat. “There’s no one to write up a contract anyway. Your father would have to do it as our regent.”

With the door left open, they heard the sound of the floo chiming to announce a visitor. Daphne got to her feet and ran out of the room. She returned only a minute later with a panicked Remus behind her. 

“Remus,” Harry gasped, jumping to his feet, Belle doing the same. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked. 

“It’s Sirius,” he told them. “He’s escaped.”

The twins exchanged a look before they looked back at him. 

“ _ How _ ?” Harry questioned. “Everyone says Azkaban is impossible to break out of.”

“I don’t know,” Remus shook his head. “But they think he’s coming after you both.”

“But we already think he’s innocent,” Belle pointed out. “So we’re not in danger, right?”

“Who knows?” Daphne cut in hesitantly. “Azkaban is… his mind might not be quite right anymore. Maybe he didn’t betray your parents, but if he’s after you guys… just be careful.”

“Yeah.”

* * *

**September 1st, 1993**

**Diagon Alley**

“Get him away from Scabbers or I’ll turn him into a tea cozy!” 

Belle wondered if the eye twitch she felt was imaginary or if Ron really was going to drive her crazy. “Ron, what do you expect? He’s a cat. It’s in his nature.” 

“A cat?” Ron scoffed. “Is that what they told you? Looks more like a pig with hair if you ask me.” 

“That’s rich, coming from the owner of that smelly old shoe brush,” she spat. “Come on Icarus, just ignore the mean little boy.” 

“Harry!” Ron said, looking past her and perking up. She turned and caught sight of her brother and grinned. 

“Harry! Tell him Icarus is a good cat.”

Harry paused, looking like he deeply regretted coming over from Greengrass Manor. “Where’s Draco?”

“Meeting us on the train,” Daphne said, grabbing Icarus from Belle’s arms. The cat leaned into her happily, and Ron scowled. “Something’s up. He’s being weird.”

“He’s always weird,” Ron muttered as his family began to fill the room. “I don’t get how you guys are in Slytherin and friends with him. He’s evil.”

“You’re a cunt,” Belle muttered under her breath. Only Blaise heard, and he let out a short laugh, dropping his head onto her shoulder to hide his face. 

“Hey,” Astoria called, tossing something over at Belle. Theo caught it before it could hit her and inspected it. It was a box, and when she nodded at Theo to open it, there was a bracelet with small blue and green beads of different shades. 

“What is it?” Theo wondered. 

“An old Greengrass artifact Dad found yesterday,” Daphne answered for her sister. “He said it’ll heat up if you’re in danger. He’s trying to find the other one for you, Harry.”

“No thanks,” Harry made a face. “I don’t want a bracelet.”

Belle held her wrist out and let Theo put it on for her. Icarus had jumped down from Daphne’s arms and was, once more, chasing Scabbers around the room. When it was on, it flashed silver for a moment before it ended and just looked like a normal bracelet.

“Ooh, that’s pretty,” Ginny said, eyeing Astoria. “Got any gifts for me, Greengrass?”

“Someday,” Astoria winked, a grin on her face that was much too flirtatious for a twelve-year-old girl. 

The group was, with the help of Lord Nott and the Weasley parents, shifted onto the platform and then slowly pushed onto the train. After a half hour of confusion, all of the kids were seated in their respective compartments and waiting.

“Draco’s going to miss the train if he’s any later,” Belle hummed nervously. 

“He was stuck at home with his dad all summer,” Theo winced. “Apparently, Lucius got word of your friendship.” 

Belle breathed out nervously. “Shit. I take it he doesn’t approve anymore?”

“Not after your talk before school last year,” Daphne reminded her. 

“Just some pureblood conditioning,” Blaise rolled his eyes. “Nothing he can’t handle.” 

The door opened abruptly, and Belle’s eyes fell on a tired looking Draco. His hair wasn’t slicked back as usual but rather was fluffy and curly in its natural state. She stared in shock as he put his things away and sat next to Blaise and Daphne. 

“Staring, Potter?” 

The cold tone shocked her, and she stiffened slightly. “Are you alright? I was getting worried.” 

“I don’t need your worries,” he spat at her. 

She sighed and leaned back. “I know you spent the summer with your father, but I’d hoped you’d still be the same fucking  _ person _ .” Draco glared at her, and she stood, feeling particularly unwelcome. She hated it, and it stung as she felt unwanted amongst her own friends. “I’ll go then.” 

“Belle-,” 

“He’s acting like a prat!” She spat, pointing at Draco. He swatted her hand away hard, accidentally slamming it into the door. She winced at the pain and threw the door open and left, but not before turning around and hexing her blonde friend on the way out. 

It took her a while to find Harry, who had gone to sit with Ron, and she was surprised to see they weren’t alone when she did.

“Remus!” She exclaimed, moving to hug him. “What are you doing here?” 

“I’ll be teaching Defense this year,” he explained. “It was a last minute decision.” 

“Better questions is what are  _ you _ doing here?” Ron asked her with a scowl. 

“Draco,” she made a face. “He’s a prat.”

“Oh, you finally see it my way,” Ron snarked. She rolled her eyes. 

“He’s a prat, and he’s my friend,” she corrected herself, glaring at Ron. “You, however, are not.”

Harry sighed. “Can you please not do this again?”

“He hates me just because I’m in Slytherin,” she reminded him. “I hate him because he’s a cun-“

“Okay!” Harry interrupted quickly. “Daphne’s a bad influence on you.”

“Daphne doesn’t say cunt, that’s Astoria,” Belle laughed. “And me.”

“I don’t understand how everyone thinks you’re such an innocent person,” Ron muttered. “You just called me a cunt!”

“Because you hate me for not being in your house!”

“That’s not the only reason,” he assured her. “I also hate you because you’re a know it all, and you’re best friends with Snape.”

Belle sighed. “He’s my Head of House and he was best friends with my mum.”

“Leave her alone, mate,” Harry requested. “I don’t exactly like him, but he’s nice to her.”

“She attacked me first,” he muttered. 

Belle shook her head. “I think I’d rather hex Draco again than argue with you.”

“You hexed Malfoy?” Ron asked, suddenly interested. “I thought he was your best friend!”

“One of,” she shrugged. “I hexed him because he was being a prat after spending the summer with his dad.”

“Belle,” Remus sighed disapprovingly. “You cannot hex your friends.”

“I already did.”

A sudden cold came over them, and Belle looked up as the door froze shut. A bottle by the window froze solid, and she breathed out, gasping as her breath was visible in the air. 

“What…?”

The dementors came as quickly as they were sent away. Harry was on the floor with Remus over him, and Belle was squeezing her eyes shut, desperate to chase away her own demons. She’d blacked out as well, though she hadn’t fallen as Harry had. Quietly, Remus handed her a piece of chocolate and asked her if she was okay before heading out to talk to someone. 

She ate the chocolate, but the images behind her eyes didn’t disappear. 

* * *

“Potter,” Draco hissed. Belle’s head swung over and she groaned at the sight of Draco whispering to Harry, who was sat down the table from him with Astoria. “Potter! Is it true you fainted? I mean you actually fainted?”

“I did, too,” she said loud enough that he could hear. His eyes fell on her, and she saw him pale slightly. He quieted after that, and she leaned forward to whisper to him while Dumbledore spoke. “Stop being an arse. You’re my  _ friend _ .” 

“You’re a blood traitor,” he spat. She reeled, staring at him. 

“This isn’t you. Whatever your father said to you is bullshit.  _ You know that _ .”

He stopped, and she watched him war within himself before a wall broke down and his shoulders fell. “Father threatened to move me to Durmstrang.” 

“You know he won’t do that,” Theo stared at him like he was an idiot. 

“ _ And _ he threatened you,” he told Belle. “He wants me to stop being friends with you.” 

“Did he hurt you?” she asked softly. He shook his head minutely and she sighed. “I can handle myself. I have people that will help me if I’m in danger. I’m not afraid of your father, but I’m afraid of losing my friend.”

“You have to be careful,” he told her softly. His eyes were desperate, and she gave him a smile, touching his hand. 

“I’ll be fine, love,” she promised. “Are you going to stop being an arse?” 

“Yes.” 

“Good.” Belle paused. “He didn’t threaten Harry?”

Draco shook his head. “Harry will be Lord Potter. You won’t be.”

Belle’s eyes flashed angrily but she said nothing, instead content to feel the burning anger build up in her once more.

* * *

**September 2nd, 1993**

**Dumbledore’s Office**

The doors opened on their own, presumably because of some sort of spell. The office was completely empty, though, and Belle walked in to turn in circles to look around. It was just as she’d seen the first time she’d been there. Portraits slept while others narrowed their eyes at her suspiciously. Only one spoke, and it was the one she’d been curious about for a while. 

“Miss Potter,” Phineas Nigellus Black called. She turned on her heel to find him staring at her. 

“Hello,” she replied with a polite smile. “My friend Draco said your portrait doesn’t wake for anyone but a Black. Do you wake for me because my grandmother was a Black?”

“I do not know your relation to my family,” he scoffed. She felt vaguely offended. “It could be purely that your godfather was one of my descendants.”

“You said Sirius and my mum were in Dumbledore’s office while he was gone,” she nodded, intrigued. “What were they doing?”

“Ah, yes,” he nodded, jumping down a few frames to one of a landscape that was directly in front of her. She walked over, grateful that she no longer had to stare up at him. “They were doing an old spell, one that changed the Secret Keeper of a place. They never finished it - they took the enchanted orb to the new Secret Keeper.”

“We were right! Sirius didn’t betray them!”

Phineas scoffed at her and looked disgusted. “Sirius Black would  _ never _ . He would have died for James or Lily Potter before betraying them. Merlin knows he got in trouble enough for protecting James.”

“This is amazing!” she exclaimed, energy thrumming through her body. “We can get him declared innocent!”

“I am afraid the word of a portrait will not be enough.”

“Professor,” Belle gritted out, tense. “You must have known he was innocent!”

“I could do nothing, my dear. I apologize.”

It took a great deal of self-restraint to keep from yelling at him, as well as the knowledge that fighting him politically would be a large challenge - they couldn’t make an enemy of him. So, she moved onto the reason she’d come to his office in the first place. “I was wondering if you could help me. I want to take every class I can and I heard that, in special cases, time-turners are given for that.”

“I’m sure I can get you one,” he told her. “I will have it by the end of the week. Is there anything else, my dear?”

“No,” she answered him. He dismissed her, and she sped down to the library to study and burn off the energy she’d gained from her fury at her headmaster. 

* * *

**September 11th, 1993**

**Potions Classroom**

Snape fell out of Belle’s mind and stared at her as she tensed. In what he knew was an unconscious move, she dropped her hand down to her dagger and pulled it into her hand, gripping it so tight that her knuckles turned white. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said when he went to speak. “I don’t understand it, Professor. I don’t want to think about it or talk about it.”

“He-,”

“It doesn’t really matter,” she interrupted. “I ran away, so it doesn’t matter  _ what _ he was doing.”

“It does,” he told her softly. “Because as much as I plan to work on getting you out, you will likely be forced to go back. Ignoring what you saw, what you felt, what you knew, will only put you in danger again."

“Then we won’t go back,” she suggested. “We just won’t. They’ll be perfectly happy and so will we.”

“Dumbledore will not allow it."

Belle threw her hands up, the dagger falling onto her lap. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

“Tell me what you thought he was doing.”

“ _ Why _ ?”

“Because you have put a great deal of energy into ignoring it and if you are to be near him again, that is dangerous.”

“I don’t know,” she muttered. “Hurt me. I don’t know what that- that feeling was. Just… so scared. He’s never scared me like that before professor. He wanted something… new.”

Snape looked down at his desk and scrawled out an address, handing it over. “If you are ever hurt and need immediate attention, go there. Put your wand out into the road and the Knight Bus will come take you wherever you need.”

Belle looked down at the address and repeated it in her head until she’d memorized it. “Thank you, Professor.”

“Thank me by staying safe.”

* * *

**September 30th, 1993**

**Great Hall**

Belle chuckled as she poked Draco’s arm. “You’re pathetic.”

“It hurt!”

“He barely scratched you,” she rolled her eyes. “You’re being dramatic.”

“Bloody evil beast.”

“You could’ve been respectful like Hagrid told you to be,” she pointed out, shifting the ice pack she held to his arm. He wasn’t injured badly, but he did have a cut and a nasty bruise. 

“My father will hear about this,” he said again, sounding like a petulant child. She rolled her eyes and nodded. She knew he wouldn’t tell his father a thing, not after the summer he’d had. 

“Whatever you say, Draco.”

* * *

**October 9th, 1993**

**Hogwarts Grounds**

“Where are we going?” Blaise asked, running down the path to Hagrid’s hut with Belle. He managed to catch her arm and intertwined their fingers, mostly so that she couldn’t run off without him again. “Merlin, slow down.”

“Icarus keeps running off in this direction,” she explained as they neared the edge of the forest. She leaned into his side, shivering a little in the cold as her eyes scanned the trees. “I’m worried about him. He’s supposed to be bonded to me as my familiar, and he doesn’t come back hurt or anything, but-,”

“But you make a habit of worrying over everything,” Blaise agreed, pushing her hair from his face. “I dunno, Belle, do you really think he’d go in there? Kneazles are smart animals. They know danger.”

Belle hummed and squeezed his hand a little. “You might be right, but then why does he keep running off? He didn’t do this last year.”

“I dunno,” he shrugged. When she kept gazing at the trees, he took a step back and spun her suddenly, making her gasp in surprise. He grabbed onto her shoulders before she could fall off balance, and she hit his chest when she finally felt steady again. 

“Blaise!” 

“You’re so stressed,” he told her, laughing. “Seriously, Belle, you gotta chill.”

“I have plenty of reason to be stressed,” she reminded him with a huff. He threw his arm over her shoulder when she escaped from his grip to step closer to the treeline. “I’m taking all of those classes-,”

“With the time-turner that Snape is  _ definitely _ going to murder you for getting-,”

“And Harry has been spending more time with Ron, who is certain Icarus killed his stupid rat, so we’re fighting a lot-,”

“Better off if he did, if you ask me.”

“I agree,” she laughed softly. “And then Occlumency has been… difficult. Then what’s going on with the Alliance, and Lord Nott is suspicious of me, and as well as all of that, Sirius Black is roaming about somewhere with dementors after him!”

“I’m not saying you don’t have reason to be stressed,” he told her gently. It was one of the rare moments where Blaise dropped the jokes and was serious and emotionally in tune - he could tell she needed him to be calm, so he was. “Listen to me, okay? I’m worried about you. Haven’t you wondered why I’ve been following you around for three days?"

Belle paused, thinking back to the last few days. He  _ had _ been sticking to her side, but she’d appreciated it and hadn’t thought much of it. He always kept her unusually calm, even when he got on her nerves. “Oh.”

“C’mon, do you trust me?” he asked her. She met his dark eyes and, with no hesitation, nodded. “Good! We’re going to sneak out of the castle and go get ice cream.”

“We could get in so much trouble! We could-,” Belle cut off when she spotted slight movement in the trees. Something large that she’d previously assumed was a bush had shifted, and she almost thought she could make out a pair of eyes. 

“Hey,” he said softly, watching her brow furrow. She was looking past him at the trees, and he turned around, confused when he saw nothing. “What is it?”

“I thought I saw… nothing,” she shook her head, tearing her eyes away to look at him again. “We could be suspended.”

“Yeah, but we won’t be,” he assured her. “C’mon, let me help you.”

Belle pursed her lips and nodded. “But if I get in trouble, I’ll be so mad at you.”

“Noted and ignored. Let’s go!”

* * *

**October 22nd, 1993**

**Potions Classroom**

Belle stared at Snape as he stared at her Time-Turner with obvious disapproval and a great deal of exhaustion.

“And you didn’t come to me because?”

“Because you would’ve said no.”

His frustrated frown made her feel guilty. “Of course I would have! What lies did you tell to get this?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t. He gave it to me after Phineas Black said Sirius is innocent.”

He rubbed his temples tiredly. “If at any point during the year, you begin to be overloaded, I am taking this away.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you’re dropping two classes.”

“But-,”

“No,” he shook his head. “Drop two classes or drop all but two. It is your choice.”

Belle huffed but nodded. “Divination and muggle studies.”

Snape nodded and marked something down on his papers before handing her time-turner back over. “You are free to go, but do not do that again, Miss Potter.”

“Yes, sir.”

* * *

**October 23rd, 1993**

**DADA Classroom**

“I’m just saying, it’s not my fault.”

“It  _ is _ !” Harry exclaimed, tossing his bag onto the desk in front of him. “You let him into your stupid mind and then all of the sudden, I get detention for knowing you have a time-turner!”

“It’s not my fault he decided to be an arse,” she corrected. “I know you don’t care to protect your mind, but I do. Leave me alone.”

“Do we hear the Little Twins bickering?”

Harry’s head shot up as the Weasley twins made their way into the room with matching grins. “What’re you guys doing here?”

“Detention,” George said. 

“For dosing your prefects with a babbling beverage,” Fred explained. 

“What’re you two in for?”

“Belle went behind Professor Snape’s back to get something and got detention for it, and then I got one for knowing she had it,” Harry scowled.

“That’s enough, Harry,” Remus sighed, making his way into the room. “I took your detentions to make this easier on you.”

“Then why did you take  _ theirs _ ?” Belle asked before pausing. Her eyes widened. “Oh my god, you’re not- you said you wouldn’t!”

“It isn’t safe,” Remus explained, his eyes settling on the twins. “I heard you two have something that belongs to them.”

“Nope,” they said together, clearly confused. 

“You do,” Harry nodded before pausing. “Well, it doesn’t belong to us, but you have it and it was his and our dad was gonna give it to us.”

Fred and George looked at each other for one very long moment before their eyes widened together. “The Marauders Map!” 

“That’s it,” Remus laughed, sitting on a desk. “How did you find it? Wormtail had it taken away by Filch in our seventh year.”

“We found it in Filch’s office in our first year,” Fred said when George just stared in shock. The other boy shook himself a moment later. 

“You’re one of them! Who?”

“Moony,” Belle answered for the reluctant man. “Our dad was Prongs.”

“And now with Sirius Black on the loose, it isn’t safe to leave it with the pair of you,” Remus explained.

“Does that make Sirius Black Padfoot?” 

“Yes,” Harry said when, once more, Remus hesitated. “But we don’t think he did it, so I don’t really know why this is necessary.”

“Not because I think Sirius will use it to hurt anyone,” Remus assured them. “But because I don’t want it falling in the hands of someone that could use it to hunt Sirius down.”

“You really think he’s innocent?”

“He is,” Belle told them firmly. “I thought so when I first heard about him, but I’ve also recently gotten confirmation from someone that was there when they switched Secret Keepers. There’s no way it was Sirius.”

George dug into his pocket and grabbed it out, handing it over to Remus, who pocketed it. 

After that, the group sat together to talk for a while. The elder twins questioned Remus about their pranks while the younger twins asked more about their parents, both of whom Remus knew quite well. 

* * *


	7. Rescue

**October 31st, 1993**

**Hogwarts Grounds**

As Gryffindor House slept in the Great Hall for their safety while the castle was searched for Sirius, Belle was roaming around as well, also looking for the man. 

She was hidden under Harry’s invisibility cloak, which she’d stolen from him while he was distracted by Daphne. None of her friends particularly knew what she was doing, mostly because she didn’t want them to get in trouble with her.

Belle sighed as she followed Icarus. As soon as she left the castle itself through a tight window, she was forced to run after the magical cat as he sprinted to the Forbidden Forest. She ran in after him, dodging tree branches and hissing at her cat to slow down. 

She yelled out as her ankle hit the root of a tree and she was thrown to the ground painfully. The Invisibility Cloak fell off of her, and she was unable to catch it as it floated away, though she saw out of the corner of her eye that it had been caught by… something. 

She groaned, turning onto her back. Her wrist screamed in pain, and she looked down in dread as she realized she’d hurt - or possibly broken - the same wrist that she kept hurting. Worse, there was a large cut down the side of her leg, and she couldn’t move it without intense pain. It bled badly, and she cursed loudly at the sight of it. There was a strong possibility that the blood would attract any number of unwelcome creatures, a fact that made her even more uneasy. 

“Let me help,” a shaky voice said. Her head whipped around to find a man - Sirius Black - kneeling near her with her cat rubbing up against him. “You won’t be able to stand like that.” 

“Sirius,” she gasped, her eyes widening. “Sirius Black.”

“I won’t hurt you,” he assured her, and she shook her head. 

“I didn’t think so, I-,” she cut off with a wince as she absently tried to move her leg and was abruptly reminded of exactly why she couldn’t do that. “Shit.” 

“I’m going to heal you,” he told her carefully. She nodded a little as he held his hand out in front of her leg, and she watched him put it under a stasis charm before casting spells to see what she’d done to it. 

“Of course! Icarus has been coming to see you,” she realized, watching as her orange cat laid down at Sirius’s feet. 

“This cat’s yours?” he blinked. “Yeah, he’s been bringing me food.” 

“I followed him out here,” she explained as he removed the stasis charm and began healing her however he could without potions. “I was looking for you.”

Sirius looked at her and she knew he recognized her. When he hesitated and looked down at his methodical movements over her leg, she smiled a little. 

“I don’t even need to ask you,” she admitted, mostly to herself. “You know who I am. If you were here to hurt us, you wouldn’t heal me first… but then why did you break out? Why come here, where everyone would be looking for you? You could’ve just gone somewhere to live out your life.”

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he confirmed quietly, putting a little more effort into healing her. “But there’s someone else here that is a danger to you. That’s why I broke out.”

“Who?” she asked in surprise. “Dumbledore?”

“Dumble- what? No. Pettigrew.”

Belle hissed when he cleared off the blood with a small jet of water. She reached down for her wand and lit it up for him as he transfigured a leaf and a stick into a needle and thread. “Remus said he died.”

“You know Remus,” he smiled softly. She nodded quietly. 

“We met him in our first year. Dumbledore blocked everyone from reaching us, but luckily, we’re in Slytherin. Our friend Daphne wrote to him for us and invited him and us over for Christmas. He’s our DADA teacher this year. But Sirius, didn’t Pettigrew die?”

“No,” he answered softly, holding onto her leg with one hand and the needle and thread with the other. “This is going to hurt.”

“I’ve had stitches before,” she waved him off. Icarus moved over to her and, with her unhurt hand, she began petting him to distract herself. “What do you mean, he didn’t die? Ever since Lord Nott told me about what happened, I thought there was a lot wrong with the situation, but-,”

“Lord Nott,” Sirius repeated, worry coloring his voice. “Kitten, what were you doing with him?”

Belle’s lips twitched. “Don’t worry. I befriended his son, who is not a bigot, and he asked us to stay. We avoided each other, because we make each other uncomfortable. He just told me a lot about you and your family and the whole situation one day when we ended up in the library together.”

“He’s not safe,” he told her seriously. “You need to be careful around him.”

“Honestly, I think I have less reason to be worried about him than stupid Lucius Malfoy.”

Sirius winced. “Cissa married him. Did they have kids?”

“One,” she confirmed. “Draco. He’s one of my close friends. He was a right prat when I met him. Apparently, his father isn’t happy that we’re friends - just me and him, not him and Harry, because I’m not going to be in charge of the fucking House - so he supposedly threatened me. I don’t believe he’d do anything.”

“I do,” Sirius frowned at her. “Merlin, I came here worried about Pettigrew and now I’ve got two Houses to fight, too.”

“Sirius, no,” Belle laughed, surprised. “I’m fine. We’ve got bigger problems right now.”

“Well, you’re all stitched up, but you should get to the infirmary,” he told her, transfiguring a larger leaf into gauze to put over the cut. He placed a light sticking charm on it and then sucked in a deep breath. 

“Not  _ me _ ,” she rolled her eyes, poking his arm. “You. They’re searching the castle for you right now, and they… sort of sealed it, so we can’t get in anyway.”

“How did you get out?”

“Harry’s Invisibility Cloak,” she blushed. “I lost it, so we have to-,”

“Got it,” Sirius interrupted, raising his arm. She was surprised to find the cloak draped over his arm. 

“You caught it?”

“This is a very important Potter heirloom that we used constantly. Not only did I recognize it immediately, I also had a heart attack upon finding it floating through the forest. Thanks for that, by the way.”

Belle blushed. “Well, if we have that, I know exactly what we can do.”

“What’s that?”

She reached under her shirt and pulled out her time-turner. Sirius stared at it in shock, and she laughed softly. “Dumbledore gave it to me after Phineas Black told me you definitely didn’t betray my parents.”

Sirius blinked in surprise. “What was he doing awake? He’s a cranky bastard; he always yelled at me when I visited because I woke him up.”

“Well… my grandmother was a Black,” Belle frowned. “Right? I can’t see any other reason.”

“He never woke for James,” Sirius denied.

“Well, whatever the matter, we need to hurry up,” she said. “I don’t know if I can walk.”

“You shouldn’t,” he agreed. “That’ll keep it closed, but only if you’re careful.”

“So I’ll send us back three hours,” she began slowly, the plan forming as she spoke. “You’ll have to take me to Snape’s office-,”

“ _ Snape _ ?” Sirius repeated sharply. “Why would you ever want to be around Snivellus?”

Belle made a face at him, disgusted. “Stop it! I knew he had a problem with my Dad, but I didn’t realize it extended to you. He’s perfectly fine with Remus.”

“Remus stayed out of it for Lily,” Sirius informed her. 

“Well he’s been very kind and helpful to me,” she shook her head tiredly. “I trust him. He will heal me.”

“And  _ not _ immediately turn me over to the dementors?”

“Well, you won’t be there,” she scoffed like it was obvious. 

“Where will I be, then?”

“You’ll have to go somewhere safe and wait. Lord Greengrass will definitely help you, he’s already told me he would-,”

“Hold on, you’re chummy with Daniel Greengrass?”

Belle shrugged. “His daughters are some of my closest friends and we’ve stayed with them a lot. He said… it’s his job as a part of the Potter Alliance to help us. He helped me get rid of bloody Dumbledore as our regent."

“So you like politics.”

“Yeah, how else are we supposed to get shit done? Complaining does nothing. Anyway… I’d bet Lady Zabini would help..”

Sirius looked  _ very _ overwhelmed, and she felt bad for him. “Elora Zabini is an asshole.”

Belle shrugged. “Maybe, but she likes me, so I bet she’d help me. So you need to get to a safe place and wait there until I can get fixed up and come find you with Daphne or Astoria and Blaise. Oh, and Harry. I’ll find Harry.”

“Belle,” Sirius said, speaking her name for the first time. She looked at him and saw the relief in his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Belle froze, unsure how she felt. She hadn’t yet stopped to think about how she felt about him. She’d just known she needed to help him. “I know. I never thought… I didn’t think you wanted this to happen.”

“I made a mistake.”

“We should… ah, we should get moving,” she told him. “You’ll have to grab onto me when I do this.”

“Or,” he laughed softly. “I could just pick you up.”

Belle made a face at him. “You don’t need to pick me up.”

“How do you plan to get to Snape?”

“Oh.”

Sirius got to his feet and leaned down to pick her up, pausing when Icarus jumped onto her stomach to be carried as well. Belle adjusted carefully and tugged the cloak over them, as well as the time-turner around his neck. When he nodded that he was ready, she twisted the time-turner three times and released it, watching in wonder as she did every time at time moving back, the sun poking out just a little until they could see the sunset once more. “Where to, kitten?”

“The potions classroom,” she told him, gripping onto him tighter when he started moving. “I have a question.”

“Huh?”

“How did you escape? Remus suggested it was your animagus form, but shouldn’t dementors be able to recognize you even then?”

“Actually, he’s right,” Sirius told her, surprised. He entered the castle through the large front doors and moved toward the stairs. It was a difficult task to walk down a flight, careful not to jostle her injuries. “I lost some weight, and when I knew I needed to keep you two safe, I managed to shift and escape.”

“That’s incredible,” Belle muttered softly as they entered the dungeons. The potions classroom was just down the hall, and they stopped for a moment as Draco and Blaise passed them. “Guys!” 

“Did you hear- Belle?” Blaise blinked, confused. 

Belle shoved the cloak off of her partly. “Hey, come with me. I don’t see you before the lockdown.”

“Lockdown?” Draco asked, frowning at her in concern. “Who the hell is holding you?”

“Come on,” she scowled. She was only able to grab onto Draco’s robes, but luckily, Blaise followed willingly. The classroom and Snape’s office were empty, and the cloak fell to the floor as Sirius set her into the chair. 

“ _ Shit _ ,” Blaise cursed. “Merlin, Belle, you need to stay out of shit for  _ one year _ .”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Sirius rolled his eyes. 

“Sirius, do you know somewhere you can go?” Belle wondered, ignoring the boys. “You can’t go anywhere your past self would be.”

“I mean, I can go to the Shrieking Shack,” he shrugged. “Where’s Remus? I want to get him.”

“I’ll send him your way,” she offered. “Just hurry up. Take the cloak with you, okay?”

Sirius looked between her and her boys nervously before patting her shoulder. “I’ll see you later. Stay safe in here.”

“Go on.”

Once he’d covered up and left the office, she found herself being questioned rapidly. After a few moments, she put her hand in the air to stop them. “In a few hours, there will be a lockdown when Sirius tries to break into Gryffindor Tower. I snuck out and went looking for him. I tripped and got hurt, and Sirius healed me up as best as he could.”

“He’s really innocent, huh?” Blaise asked, looking over her quickly bruising wrist. Draco pulled out his wand and once more put a numbing spell on it, much to her relief. 

“Yes, he is,” she nodded. “Blaise, do you think your mum would help get him proven innocent?”

Blaise considered it. “It’s possible. I can contact her.”

“Not yet,” she shook her head. “I’m going to- Professor!”

Snape looked between the three kids and then at Belle’s leg and let out a sigh. “I assume you have an explanation for this.”

“I do,” she confirmed, looking to Blaise and Draco. “Can you guys go tell Remus?”

“Sure,” Blaise nodded. She offered him a thankful smile, and then one to Draco, who just nodded and tugged Blaise out of the room. 

“Okay. So in three hours, there will be a lockdown, and in three hours, I will sneak out of the castle and find Sirius Black - no, he didn’t hurt me. I tripped and fell. I hurt my wrist again, too.”

“I told you to be careful,” Snape scowled, taking the wrist in question in his hand to inspect it. While he worked, she got back to explaining. 

“He’s innocent, Professor. I know you know that. So he went somewhere to hide, and once you heal me up, I’m going to go visit Lord Greengrass to get his help with Sirius. He’s got the political power to have him declared innocent.”

Snape continued working on her silently, summoning potions and first aid supplies, including a brace for her wrist. She took the potions he handed her without question and sat silently as he healed up her leg. Once she was fine again, he put the things away and sat across from her. “Where is he now?”

Belle hesitated. “Professor… he really is innocent. He’s an innocent man who has spent twelve years in Azkaban for the deaths of his best friends while mourning them. He doesn’t deserve anything he’s going through.”

“I will not turn him in,” Snape said reluctantly. After staring at him for a long minute, she nodded. 

“He said he was going to the Shrieking Shack. What will you do? I saw you with Dumbledore on my way out.”

“Then I will stay in the castle and help with the search,” he answered easily. “You may use my floo to get to Greengrass Manor.”

“Thank you,” she said, offering him a true, thankful smile. He was a difficult man to crack, but she knew he cared and she knew that, if it wasn’t for her, he would likely try to take Sirius to the dementors. “Can you get Harry, Blaise, Astoria, and Daphne to the Shrieking Shack in a few hours?”

“I will.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Go before I change my mind, Potter.”

* * *

Belle stepped out of the fireplace and looked around. She was in the greeting room and it was empty. She didn’t know how to get into contact with them before coming over, and since Snape had been in a rush, he’d just sent her over. 

“Oh,” Daniel stopped short at the door to the room, taking in the messy sight of her. “Is everything alright?”

“Um, sort of,” she nodded shortly. 

“You’re hurt.”

She waved him off. “Professor Snape healed me. It was an accident. I just- I found Sirius.”

“Oh my,” he muttered, looking over his shoulder. “Alright. Why don’t you head up to Daphne’s room and change your clothes and meet me in the library to talk?”

Belle looked down at herself in surprise. She hadn’t even noticed the long tear in her jeans as well as her outer robes. “Okay. Thank you.” She walked past him and made her way up the nearby stairs. Daphne’s room was close, and she slipped inside. Changing was a slow affair as Draco’s numbing spell wore off. She’d not taken a pain potion for the simple fact that pain potion slowed the healing process sometimes, and since it was a deep cut, they hadn’t wanted to risk it. 

Once she’d changed into a skirt, a blouse, and a cardigan, she dropped her dirty, ripped clothes in the trash and made her way to the library, where she was surprised to see an unfamiliar man.

And the sight of him  _ hurt _ .

“Belle, this is Rodolphus Lestrange,” Daniel introduced. He hadn’t been informed of her adverse reaction to Death Eaters, but she still felt a tinge of annoyance at the surprise. Still, she pushed it down and offered the man a smile. 

“I’m sorry for interrupting.”

“It is quite alright,” Rodolphus assured her, looking her over. “I can return tomorrow.”

“I’ll owl you when I’m available,” Daniel told him. The pair said their goodbyes and, after a quick goodbye to Belle, Rodolphus left the room. Belle relaxed immediately and took a seat in her normal place across from Daniel. 

“Lestrange?” she asked softly. “Related to Bellatrix?”

“Her husband,” he confirmed. “He was released from Azkaban very recently. We used to be friends a long time ago.”

“He’s a Death Eater,” she muttered, mostly to herself. 

“He is,” Daniel confirmed, surprised. “How did you know?”

Belle considered deflecting the question but instead set into explaining everything they knew. She added that it hurt more with Bellatrix and Rodolphus, and watched as he processed. 

“That is very curious,” he told her. “I would guess mind magic of some sort, but who would do that to you and not your brother?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “It’s not as much of an issue in school.”

“Tell me about Sirius,” Daniel requested. Belle nodded with a small frown. 

“Okay, well… in about two hours time, there will be a school lockdown when Sirius tries to break into Gryffindor Tower. I snuck out to try to find him while they searched inside the school. I was running and I fell. That’s how I got hurt. Sirius found me and healed me up, and explained that they did, as I found out, switch Secret Keepers. Instead of him, it was Peter Pettigrew, who he claims is still alive."

“Sirius allegedly killed Pettigrew and many muggles when Pettigrew caught him in muggle London,” Daniel told her curiously. She nodded, shoving her hair to the side when it fell in her face.

“I thought that was curious, too. Sirius supposedly blew up the muggles, but he  _ destroyed _ Pettigrew? I don’t think so. Sirius was an Auror, but more than that, he was a hit wizard. He knew better. He knew enough that he shouldn’t have been followed - he knew enough to kill Pettigrew and get away with it. We didn’t discuss it, but I’d bet anything that he went to confront Pettigrew and then he did that. Remus told us he’s a rat animagus anyway, so he probably cut off his finger, shifted, and got away easily.”

“That… makes a great deal of sense,” the man agreed thoughtfully. “How are you doing? Who knows?”

“Um… Snape, Remus, Draco, and Blaise. I asked Snape to get Harry, Blaise, Daphne, and Astoria to where Sirius is hiding in two hours. Remus should hopefully be with him now.”

“If we wish to get him a fair trial, we need to get him mind healing first,” Daniel told her seriously. “Most mind healing facilities are in time bubbles - places manipulated by the sands of time. I will have Emma set up a spot for him in one of these. Then we just have to get him from Hogwarts. Any ideas on that?”

“Yeah, it won’t be a problem,” she shook her head. “He’s in the Shrieking Shack now.”

“Then why don’t we get you some tea while Emma and I work out where to send him?”

Belle paused. It was all beginning to hit her now that they were really, truly working out how to help him. She felt incredibly overwhelmed and a little scared. “Do you…”

Daniel looked at her in concern. “What?”

“Do you think… he could get custody of Harry and I?” she asked in a whisper. His smile softened. 

“I think we will do our very best to do that. I’ve almost unearthed your parents’ wills, Belle. With any luck, you’ll go to him at the end of the year.”

Belle nodded and they set to work. He took her down to the kitchen for the tea and left her there to speak to his wife. Letters were sent using their fastest owls and discussions were had on the intricacies of the current Wizengamot ongoings. It was an exceptionally long two hours, and when it was over, Daniel offered Belle his arm and apparated them to Hogsmeade, where they walked together - her hand still on his arm simply because it was hard to walk - to the Shrieking Shack. 

“Belle!”

“Daddy!” 

“Are those my clothes?”

Once Daniel helped Belle to a chair, he wrapped his daughters up in tight hugs. “Yes, those are yours. She arrived in ripped clothing.”

“Sorry,” Belle commented. “I’ll give them back later.”

“Belle, what’s going on?” Harry asked, touching her shoulder, concerned. “We were sent to Hogsmeade in the middle of the night while you were missing to find bloody Sirius Black here.”

“Relax,” she rolled her eyes at him. “I went to Lord Greengrass to see what we could work out for Sirius.” She met Sirius’s eyes, surprised to find him frowning at her in concern. “We don’t even need Lady Zabini, I think.”

“What did you do, kitten?”

“We found a mind-healing clinic to take you tonight,” she explained. 

“It’s in a time bubble,” Daniel continued, getting the attention of the other adults in the room. “In tonight, out tomorrow. From there, it’s a matter of gaining asylum. I offered, but Belle pointed out that it would say a lot more if the House of Potter offered you asylum, and since I’m their current regent, I can allow you to stay at my home. Belle and Harry will have to make statements, attend your trial, and likely speak with the press, but the facts all point to your innocence.”

“I don’t want them involved in this,” Sirius said, looking to the twins in worry. “They were supposed to have normal lives.”

“For better or worse, we didn’t,” Harry spoke up. “They’ve been kinda shit, but we want to help you now. Then you can help us. That’s what family does, right?”

“This is really all thanks to her,” Daniel said, nodding at Belle. Her friends and brother nodded their agreement, as well as Remus. 

“She was so sure as soon as Theo’s father told her who you were that you were innocent,” Blaise agreed. “She’s been working on this since first year.”

“When can I see them again?” Sirius asked after a moment. He was clearly reluctant to leave them, something everyone understood. 

“They come to Christmas with us,” Astoria answered. “You’ll be there, so you’ll see them then.”

“Plus they can be excused for House issues, and you are a House issue,” Daphne added. “So any time you need to discuss your case or anything, they can leave the castle. They don’t even have to tell Dumbledore why - just clear it with their Head of House. Luckily, he’s got a soft spot for Belle, so that’s easy.”

“So… what now?” Sirius wondered, looking at the group gathered around him. 

“Now, we take you to Brazil for the mind healing,” Daniel answered him. “And then I’ll pick you up in the morning and we can get to work on the trial.”

“Okay… let’s go.”

* * *

**November 1st, 1993**

**Greengrass Manor**

Harry shifted in his seat again, and Belle made a face at him, annoyed. They’d spent the night there after a short conversation with Snape, who had known what was going on already. Sirius had been portkeyed to Brazil after being cleaned up - something that included a new set of robes, a long shower, and a haircut and a trim to his beard. 

The twins hadn’t been able to sleep all night, and instead, they’d discussed what they’d do if they got away from the Dursleys. Both of them had agreed they’d never go back unless they really, truly had to. Neither enjoyed their time there and both wanted away from the family they’d never been supposed to go to. 

The next morning, Daniel had eaten breakfast with them, and then he’d taken a portkey to Brazil to pick up their godfather. It was a long process of discharging the man, and he’d ensured to remind them that Sirius could have easily spent a year or even longer there, and that he might be a very different man than the desperate one they’d met the night before. 

The floo chimed and it took a great deal of effort for both kids to stay in their seats. They were in the nearby sitting room with tea, and they waited the agonizing two minutes it took for the men to make their way into the room.

Sirius looked different, just as they’d been warned, but he looked better. He no longer looked sickly, and he’d gained weight but also a great deal of muscle. The bags under his eyes had disappeared, and the silver eyes themselves were less dead and more excited. His beard had been shaped into a normal, fashionable style, and his wavy hair hung down to just above his shoulders. He wore a suit that spoke of money, but what completed the look of a whole, happy man was the bright smile on his face when he saw them.

“Sirius,” Harry exclaimed excitedly, jumping up to hug him. Belle stood and walked closer hesitantly. 

“How long were you there?” she wondered. Sirius looked over Harry’s head at her and offered a smile. 

“Eight months, actually. It’s a little startling to see you still injured,” he laughed. “Are you okay?”

“Am I-,” Belle shook her head. “Are  _ you _ okay? How are you feeling? I can’t imagine you were doing great after twelve years around dementors.”

“It was hard, but I’m doing a lot better,” he promised, looking between them. “I need to work up my Occlumency shields again, but otherwise, I’m fine.”

“That’s amazing,” Harry said with wide eyes. “Belle kept coming up with horrible scenarios. She suggested once that you’d come back and be like eighty.”

Belle blushed at the looks she got. “Theoretically, it could happen!”

“I wouldn’t have stayed there longer than a year,” Sirius assured her with a small laugh. “Somehow, they’ve seen worse cases. Apparently, shifting into Padfoot so often helped me a shit ton.”

“So, what do we do now?” Harry wondered. Daniel spoke up for the first time then. 

“Later today, you and Belle will give a statement to the press that you know Sirius is innocent and are granting him asylum. Then, you’ll likely be taken in by the DMLE for questioning, at which point you will have to request to speak to Amelia Bones. She’s the only one I trust there. She’ll see to it that he’s freed.”

“And stay away from Fudge,” Sirius spoke up. “He’s always been a slimy bastard.”

“Do we have to?” Harry complained, making a face. Belle just rolled her eyes, annoyed, so Sirius spoke up. 

“I don’t want you to have to do this either, Pup. I know it’s hard and I was raised with this shit. But I want to help you, so you have to help me first.”

“Okay,” Harry said reluctantly. “Does that mean we get to skip classes tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. Okay, then.”

Belle stared at him, her mouth open in shock. “Merlin, you’re so stupid. Don’t you want to get away from the Dursleys? Harry, we weren’t supposed to ever go there! We were supposed to go to Sirius!”

“Of course I don’t want to be with the Dursleys,” Harry frowned at her. “You know that!” 

“What is  _ wrong _ with you?” she asked him, anger building up. “You’re like this about Dumbledore, too! You didn’t even say shit when he fucked with my head, Harry! We’re supposed to be a team. Always. Now you don’t care. I don’t get it. What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t- I don’t know!” Harry threw his hands up, frustrated. Everything he wanted to say to her was pushed down by some sort of fabricated loyalty to Dumbledore and reluctance to be around Sirius while both were completely wrong. 

“I need Snape,” Belle muttered, looking to her friends’ father. “Can you get him, please? I think something is really wrong.”

Daniel nodded and stepped out of the room, leaving them together. 

“How are you feeling?” Sirius asked after a moment of frowning at the siblings, who refused to look at each other. Belle offered him a tense smile. 

“Fine. Better. My wrist will be in this for a few months, and there will probably be some sort of chronic pain after it’s healed that I’ll need the brace for, but otherwise, I’m fine. My leg is all healed up now.”

“Sirius, what actually happened that night?” Harry asked softly. 

“Ah,” Sirius nodded. “Let’s see… I lived in an apartment with Peter while Remus was off with the werewolf packs, and he was supposed to always stay home. We knew for a while that there was a spy in the Order, and when I came home that night to find him missing, it all just… made sense. I went to Godric’s Hollow to find you there crying. I hadn’t been there in over a week, but… Belle, you weren’t there that night.”

“Wait, what?” she asked, shocked. Everyone seemed to assume they’d both been there. “Where… was I?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I was so… angry. I grabbed you, Harry, and I was going to take you to a safe house I knew, one that belonged to my brother before he died, but Hagrid showed up and offered me the opportunity to capture Peter by taking you. I had a lot of practice in tracking down Death Eaters, and since he wasn’t good at magic, I did so easily. But then… he yelled at me accusingly and blew up the street. He cut his finger off, shifted, and escaped. I broke down and got arrested.”

“Why did he do it?” Harry asked softly, staring at his hands. “Why did he betray my parents?”

Sirius fell silent. “I’ve been trying to figure that out for a long time, Pup. I think it makes a little sense. Peter was always jealous of the rest of us. Remus was smart, I was powerful and attractive, and James was all of those things. Peter felt like he had nothing to offer - he told me as much multiple times. We tried to include him, you know, but he got bitter in our sixth year. We saw it, we tried to help, but I think maybe he hated us then. So I get why he’d betray us all… he never felt loyal to us, never felt like one of us. And maybe I can forgive him for hurting us, your dad, but not you guys. You were innocent. You’d done nothing to him.”

“You went to Hogwarts,” Belle spoke up. “Why? What were you protecting us from? Peter isn’t there.”

“He is,” Sirius frowned darkly. “We’re animagi. He’s a rat, one with a missing toe.”

Harry’s eyes widened, and he met Belle’s gaze. “Scabbers.”

Belle couldn’t help the hysterical laugh that bubbled up. “He’s been sleeping with him for years!” 

“I know you hate him, but Merlin, the guy is a murderer,” Harry rolled his eyes. “We gotta get him away from Ron.”

“Right,” she nodded. “Of course, we do.”

“Black.”

“Snape,” Sirius replied when he spotted the man in the doorway. Snape looked over at the twins, his eyes settling on Belle in particular. 

“You told me to let you know if Harry starts acting weird again,” she explained. “He’s being weird about Sirius. I think- I think there’s something actually wrong with him.”

“Mister Potter,” Snape said, getting his attention. “Do you agree?”

Harry looked like he was struggling with himself for a moment before he simply nodded sharply and kept his mouth shut. 

Snape made his way over and waved his wand over Belle, who stood there quietly and calmly. He paused for a moment and turned to Sirius to wave his wand over him. While Sirius looked like he wanted to fight, he did nothing and just let him. Then, finally, Snape waved his wand over Harry.

“So?” Belle asked. “What is it?”

“Harry has a few charms on him,” he told her. “One placed as an infant and one placed earlier this year.”

“What do they do?” Sirius asked, concerned. 

“The first one is the very much illegal loyalty charm,” he told them. “It is easy to get rid of but difficult to notice. If Dumbledore hadn’t intruded on Belle’s mind, we may never have noticed it.”

“Yeah, by the way, what the  _ fuck _ ,” Sirius asked, looking at the girl in question. She just shrugged a little. 

“I don’t know,” she answered. “It happened first year.”

“The second one,” Snape spoke up. “Is an avoidance charm directed at you, Black. Luckily for you, that is also simple to remove.”

“So do it,” Belle waved at her brother. Before Snape could move, Sirius picked his hand up and wandlessly removed both spells. Harry looked dizzy for a moment before he steadied once more and looked around. 

“Shit,” he muttered. “My head hurts. So… is that why I couldn’t tell Belle that Dumbledore is an asshole?”

“It must be,” Belle nodded. 

“There is something else,” Snape told them. “We can discuss Dumbledore’s continued manipulation of the twins later.”

“What is it?” Daniel wondered. 

“I believe I have found the source of your Death Eater reaction,” he told Belle. “I would have to do more inspection of it to know if it is possible to be removed as well as who put it there.”

“Your what now?” Sirius blinked, confused. Belle made a face. 

“Some Death Eaters - most, actually - give me paralyzing anxiety and a horrible migraine. Theo assumed it was some sort of mind magic.”

“It seems to be a sort of Occlumency,” Snape explained. “Thus why I would need to look at it closer during our sessions.”

“ _ You’re _ teaching them Occlumency?” Sirius asked, horrified.

“Just her,” Harry denied.

“I asked him to,” Belle promised. “I went to him after Dumbledore tried to mess with my mind and when he told me what it was, I asked him to help me with it.”

“Do not look at me like that,” Snape scowled at his old rival. “I would not hurt her mind.”

“Your history doesn’t exactly support that statement,” Sirius spat. He’d found plenty of messed up individuals whose minds held the magical signature of Snape. “Fine. What exactly is wrong with her mind?”

“Someone with a great knowledge of Legilimency, Occlumency, and mind manipulation put up a sort of barrier or suppressor that seems to activate when she encounters certain people.”

“Who?” Sirius frowned deeply. “James and Lily didn’t know how to do that, and I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t have even if they asked. Did you-,”

“Of course not,” Snape denied sharply. “I had not spoken to Lily for three years when she died.”

“It also raises the question once more of why Belle and not Harry?” Daniel reminded them. 

“And why was I not there that night,” Belle added. “Something’s up.” 

“We will work on it tomorrow,” Snape told her. “For now, I must return to the castle.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

Snape left, leaving the group alone again. Daniel left them to get to know one another for a while, and he used the time to set things up. When he returned, he looked around. 

“The meeting with the press is in ten minutes at the ministry,” he told the twins. “It’s time to get going.”

So, with that, the twins said quick goodbyes to their godfather and made their way to the ministry to begin the long process of freeing him.

* * *


	8. Trial

**November 1st, 1993**

**Ministry Atrium**

Belle stood on the stand at the front of the room with Daniel by her side. Harry was already in Amelia Bones' office as they’d already requested a meeting with her immediately following the announcement. When they’d said it was related to Sirius Black, she’d easily accepted. 

The atrium was quickly filling with the press, and it was an overwhelming sight. Notebooks and quills hovered at the shoulders of countless reporters, all of whom looked starved for a good story. The only innocent looking person there was a man with light blonde hair and curious robes who smiled every time they made eye contact. 

At ten past, Daniel put on a smile and cast a charm to ensure they’d be easily heard. There was a radio that would broadcast their announcement on some channel on the wizarding radio, but it was ignored in favor of the people in front of them. 

“Thank you for coming,” Daniel called. “We appreciate it. Harry wanted to be here, but he is preparing for other matters relating to the House. Belle will give the announcement and then I’ll allow three questions.”

Belle squared her shoulders and looked directly at the curious man, feeling much more comfortable with him than the others. “On October 31st, 1981, my parents were killed by Voldemort. They were betrayed by a dear friend of theirs, and he has gone without punishment for the last twelve years while another of their friend, mine and Harry’s godfather, sat in Azkaban for a crime he didn’t commit. 

“Sirius Black was given no trial - no chance to prove himself innocent. He was thrown in Azkaban, and no one looked back. Then, at the end of the summer this year, he was given a newspaper that held the picture of a family who had won a trip to Egypt. It was in this picture that he recognized the sight of Peter Pettigrew, a rat animagus. He knew that it was Pettigrew who had betrayed my parents, and he knew that because Pettigrew in his rat form was with a boy our age, that he’d be at school with us. 

“So, Sirius changed into his own animagus form and broke out of Azkaban to come to protect us. He tried to break into Gryffindor Tower to get to Pettigrew but was spooked and left the castle. The school went into lockdown, but I heard that Sirius was spotted. I’d suspected ever since I heard about him that Sirius was innocent, so I managed to sneak out of the castle and found him in the Forbidden Forest. 

“As an Ancient and Noble House, we can and are giving him asylum until he is given a fair trial and can be proven innocent. He is willing to take Veritaserum under oath and wants nothing more than to be free and to gain custody of Harry and myself. Beyond that, Harry and I want nothing more than to see him free and to live with him.”

When Belle stopped speaking, the reporters went straight into it. They all shouted out questions, and she muttered to Daniel who she wanted to speak to - the odd man. Once the crowd quieted, he called out the man’s name - Lovegood. 

“How do you feel to have found your godfather?” he asked kindly. She smiled at him. 

“Ecstatic,” she answered. “I’ve been putting his case together for three years. Another one of my father’s friends, Remus Lupin, confirmed a lot of this to me. He also disproved a theory that is apparently popular - the theory that Sirius joined Voldemort in between the deaths of his brother and his sister. According to Remus, Sirius was…. Otherwise incapacitated.”

“How so?”

“He got super drunk,” she laughed nervously. “Remus said he was incapacitated for a while after Regulus died.”

Daniel picked the next question, which came from a woman with blonde hair, a green shirt, and a disgusting smile. He would’ve chosen someone else, but she was the Daily Prophet’s pick for the meeting. 

“After a full twelve years in the infamous Azkaban prison, I would guess that Sirius Black is terribly damaged, mind and body.”

“Um… okay,” Belle blinked. “Is there a question in there?”

The woman, Rita Skeeter, scowled. “Is he?”

“Last night, Sirius went to a healer - both mind and body - who was in a time bubble. It was one night for us but eight months for him. He’s doing a lot better now. The difference was clear.”

The next question came from a tall, lean French man with a calming smile. “You said you hope Sirius gains custody of you, but is that possible?”

“It is,” she nodded, glancing at Daniel. “But I believe Lord Greengrass might know the answer better.”

Daniel nodded, looking out at them. “I am in the last steps of unearthing copies of James and Lily’s wills from one of their vaults. We already know from the man himself as well as Remus Lupin and multiple others that Sirius Black was their godfather and they were to go to him if James and Lily Potter were unable to care for Harry and Belle. It is a matter of having him declared innocent and putting through the correct paperwork once we have the wills verified.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you all for coming,” Daniel called, waving Belle off the stage. She ran down and ducked into a hallway while he finished the goodbyes, making her way to the DMLE. She ran straight into someone when she looked over her shoulder, sending them both to the ground. Her wrist was caught under her hip, and she groaned in pain. 

“Ah, shit,” the woman muttered. “I’m sorry. Are you- holy shit.”

Belle looked up to find a young woman with shocking pink hair staring at her in awe. “Are you okay? I wasn’t looking.”

“Nah, I’m fine,” the woman assured her. “I fall all the time. I just left your press conference. He really didn’t do it?”

“No, he didn’t,” Belle replied, getting to her feet carefully. 

“Mum’ll be so pleased,” the woman grinned, speaking mostly to herself, though her words made Belle tilt her head in interest. 

“Who are you?”

“Oh! I’m Tonks. Well, I have a first name, but it’s shit, so we don’t mention it.”

“Tonks,” Belle muttered. It was familiar, and she thought back to her conversation with Draco going over the Black family. There was his mother, Narcissa, and her sister, Bellatrix, but she had another sister, Andromeda, who had been disowned. Andromeda had a daughter, as well. “Nymphadora!” 

Tonks’ hair flashed red. “We don’t mention it. You know me?”

“No, I… my friend would be your cousin. He told me about you. But that would mean… Sirius is also your cousin.”

“Yep!” Tonks nodded, following her down the hall to the DMLE. “So you are, too.”

“Purebloods are weird,” Belle muttered. “You’re all related.”

“Technically, I’m a half-blood,” Tonks told her as they entered the hectic bullpen. “What’re you doing here? Oh, I bet they want you to take a statement.”

“Yeah. Harry’s already here, actually. You can stay if you’d like, or go see Sirius. I’m sure he’d love to see family that doesn’t want to string him up.”

“Where is he?” 

Belle looked over her shoulder and nodded at Daniel, who was making his way toward them. “He can give you the floo address.”

Once Tonks had skipped away excitedly, Belle moved into Amelia Bones’ office to find Harry sitting there with tea and his homework, sighing dramatically. 

“I’m bored,” he told her when he heard the door open. “If I wanted to do my history of magic essay, I’d have stayed at school.”

“You’re not doing your history of magic essay,” Belle laughed, looking over his shoulder. “You’re revising your Quidditch plays!”

“Because I was falling asleep doing the essay,” he reasoned. 

The door opened and Amelia Bones walked in with Daniel, and both took their seats, Daniel with the kids and Amelia across from them at her desk. 

“Straight into business, then,” Amelia decided. “Your regent has given permission for us to take your memories of yesterday and this morning on the basis that you are also okay with it.”

“Sure,” Harry agreed easily. Belle hesitated. 

“What would that mean?” she questioned. 

“You would think of the memories and we’d use a spell to remove them. It doesn’t include entering your mind or anything of the sort and is very common and extremely safe. If it means anything, Susan has done this same thing just to preserve memories.”

Belle thought about her classmate and nodded easily. “Okay.”

The process of removing the memories was easy enough. They were removed in a silvery string that was then placed into small glass vials. After they’d all been collected, Amelia dumped them into a pensieve and viewed them while they waited. The entire thing took less than thirty minutes, and when she was done, she sat back in her chair and looked at them. 

“May I come to see Sirius and collect his memories of the event?”

“He cannot be arrested,” Daniel reminded her. “The House of Potter is granting him asylum, and should that fall through legally, the House of Greengrass will do the same.”

“No, no,” Amelia shook her head. “I just need the memories. From the looks of it here, I will be pushing for a full pardon as well as custody, should the wills concur.”

“Then I suggest we go now.”

* * *

**November 4th, 1993**

**Slytherin Common Rooms**

“If the trial is tomorrow, what are you doing here?” Draco questioned, watching Belle struggle to braid her hair with her hand injured. When she groaned in frustration and dropped the hair, Theo took over, quietly braiding it for her. 

“We do have actual class,” she said softly, smiling gratefully at Theo as he spelled the braid to stay put. “But aside from that, we can’t do anything right now. We did all our work until the trial in the last few days. With all of the evidence turned in, our statements taken, and Sirius safe, there’s nothing else we can do.”

“I would rather be there with him,” Harry muttered, annoyed. “I don’t get why we’re here. Is it that thing Snape noticed again?”

Belle shot him a dark glare. “That thing that we weren’t going to mention?”

“Oh, right.”

“Yes, it’s that. I just… I feel like it’s so important, Harry. We’re missing something.”

“What’s going on?” Astoria questioned, plopping down onto the couch next to Belle. Her head came to rest on the older girl’s shoulder, relaxing. 

“The night our parents died, Belle wasn’t there,” Harry told them. “And Snape noticed something in her mind. She’s really freaked out by it.”

“Wait, she wasn’t there?” Theo frowned. “Everyone says you were both there.”

“It makes sense to me,” Belle admitted. “Harry’s got a scar from that night and I don’t. When the Dementors made him pass out, he saw Mum being killed. When they made me pass out, I just saw other things.”

“But where were you?”

“No clue,” she shrugged, disrupting Astoria and earning herself a glare. “I’m going to see Snape for Occlumency later. He said it might take a while to unearth those memories, but we’ll get to them. We’re doing Occlumency five times a week now instead of three.”

“Just be careful,” Draco warned her. “Burnout via Occlumency is common and dangerous for the mind.”

“He won’t let me get to that point.”

“I hope not.”

* * *

Belle was on her way to the library with Theo when they turned a corner to find Dumbledore. Both of them tried to walk around him, but he stopped them.

“Miss Potter, just the person I was looking for!”

Belle hesitated before turning to look at him. His sparkling eyes made her nervous, but she waited patiently. Theo stayed by her side, prepared to help her if the old man tried anything like he’d done two years earlier. 

“I had hoped to get to you before this trial tomorrow,” he explained, looking concerned. She knew the concern wasn’t for her, but likely for whatever plans he’d made. “I… worry over your plans. Sirius Black was a violent man. I do not think it wise to let him free.”

“Thank you for your opinion, Professor, but we don’t need it,” she told him, trying to remain calm. “When Professor Snape told you about the way our family treats us, you said nothing could be done. Now, something can. You can’t stop that.”

“Of course, I would never wish to keep you in such an environment without need,” he assured her. She didn’t believe him. “I’m merely concerned for your safety. Sirius led your Head of House straight to a werewolf in their sixth year. It is a miracle that Snape and the werewolf are still alive to this day.”

Belle forced herself to remain calm. “Maybe, but I think he’s changed. Thank you for your concern, Professor, but we’re going to be just fine.”

* * *

**November 5th, 1993**

**Wizengamot**

Sirius was escorted from Greengrass Manor to the Wizengamot an hour before his trial for prep, which meant that Harry and Belle were forced to wait to see him. They’d said goodbye beforehand in fear that things might not go their way. 

Remus had come as well to testify, and while Belle had wanted to ask Snape to come, Sirius had pointed out that the man would have nothing nice to say, so they’d foregone his invitation. Character witnesses came in the form of Andromeda Tonks and an old friend of Lily’s who he’d gone to school with, Emmaline Vance. Aside from them, Astoria, Daphne, and Blaise were there just to corroborate the twins’ stories of the night.

The trial was a rushed one and not judged by the Houses but rather Amelia Bones for fear of tampering, just as they did with every trial for a member of an Ancient and Noble House. Sirius was sat in something of a cage in the middle of the room while the people set to testify were scattered about the room. 

Amelia wasted no time beginning the trial and, after listing the charges, set to work. Once opening statements and the such had been given, they jumped straight into questioning witnesses. 

Remus was easy. He gave a factual description of what he knew before telling them of the friendship they’d had and Sirius’s intense loyalty to all of his friends. He mentioned the betrayal Sirius was sure to have felt upon learning that Peter had betrayed them to Voldemort since he felt the same thing when he thought it had been Sirius. 

After Remus, the only ones left were the kids. Snape had sent in a written testimony of the night, and only Lucius had refused to let Draco go. First up was Belle, who knew the most about the night and had experienced the most. 

“Please tell us what happened, Miss Potter,” Amelia requested with a kind smile. Belle nodded slowly. She’d already asked what sort of thing she’d be allowed or not allowed to say, so she was rather prepared. 

“Okay, well… in August of 1991, Harry and I were staying with our friend, Theo Nott. One day I went to the library and ended up talking to his father, Lord Nott, who told me that we had a godfather and what happened to him. He told me his theory on why Sirius Black would join Voldemort. Apparently, his brother, Regulus Black, died and Voldemort was demanding to be repaid for the loss. Lord Nott theorized that Sirius loved his sister, Cassiopeia, so much that in the few days between their deaths, he became a Death Eater. At the end of that year during Christmas break, Remus explained to us that it was impossible because Sirius had been, er, really drunk from the day Regulus’s death was reported to at least five days later, and never out of the sight of either Remus or my father, James when he wasn’t working. 

“I was a little bit obsessed with Sirius’s case. It didn’t take much digging to find out that he didn’t get a trial in 1981, and some of the details of the case were extremely circumstantial. No one really looked into the death of Peter Pettigrew, and no one questioned why he was  _ destroyed _ save for a single finger while the muggles were just killed. Plus, there’s the issue of the way the spell blasted outward toward Sirius while it should’ve gone the other way. All of these things made me really think, you know, Sirius couldn’t have done it.

“And then at the beginning of this school year, I was in Professor Dumbledore’s office for a meeting. He wasn’t there yet, and one of the portraits of an old Headmaster - Phineas Nigellus Black - woke up and told me that Sirius and my mother Lily were in Dumbledore’s office not long before my parents died to switch Secret Keepers.

“So, on Halloween, there was a lockdown. I snuck out of the castle to look for Sirius and followed my cat Icarus, who kept sneaking off, to the Forbidden Forest, where I tripped over the root of a tree and got hurt. Sirius found me and healed me up as best as he could and confirmed to me that he was innocent. The question was how to get him somewhere safe but also get me medical attention, so I used the time-turner to send us back a few hours. We snuck down to the potions classroom where we found Draco and Blaise, and while I waited for Snape, Sirius went to the Shrieking Shack because… well, no one wants to go there.

“I sent my friends to go find Remus, who is our current Defense professor, and send him to Sirius. I knew they’d want to catch up, and I didn’t want to leave Sirius alone, despite the fact that Icarus went with him. Once Snape healed me up, I used his floo to go to Lord Greengrass, and we worked out a plan to help Sirius. I’d asked Snape to send Harry, Blaise, Daphne, and Astoria to Sirius on the chance that we need Blaise’s help, or rather, the help of Lady Zabini, should she have been willing to give it. 

“So we got Sirius and he explained everything. Peter did it all. They’re animagi and Peter is a rat. He cut off a finger and escaped cleanly. While we worked on finding Peter that night, Sirius was sent to a healer in a time bubble, where he spent eight months healing until he got home, where we’d offered him asylum under the House of Potter. We were unable to find the boy that owned Peter, and then Peter escaped again when he realized that we knew the truth.

“After Sirius got back, he was a lot better and we began working to get him freed. We did the press conference, we gave our statements, we did everything we were asked to do. We prepared for this trial and did everything we were told to do. Lord Greengrass even found the wills today so that Sirius can, when he’s freed, gain custody of us.”

Amelia thanked her softly and called up the rest of the kids, all of whom agreed with her story and added random bits and pieces they remembered. After Daphne, Astoria, Blaise, and Harry had all had their time explaining what happened, it was finally Sirius’s turn. He was moved back into the middle of the room and, after he was given a somewhat large dose of Veritaserum, told to explain from the beginning back during the war. 

“It’s about Peter. It’s all… about Peter. He was our friend, one of our close friends. It was James, me, Remus, and Peter. We did everything together from our meeting on the train before first year. Over the years, though, we all had our own issues, but Peter didn’t. He was sheltered. He didn’t have a shitty family, a… chronic condition, or sick parents. Pete’s issue was just that he was jealous of us. I was attractive and the heir to the most powerful House, Remus was top of our class, and James was all of that combined and more. We tried so hard to include him, to show him we loved him, but he didn’t… he never believed us. He got so angry, so bitter. He started dating Camella Avery, and I think it must’ve been her brother that took him to Voldemort. 

“We were graduated and the bloody prophecy was given. I’ll never forget Lily crying as James repeated it to us. They had to go into hiding. They both trusted me to die for them, and I would have. I’d have died for James, for Lily, for Harry, for Belle… all of them. Any of them. So Dumbledore took us to his office and, using some old trinket, made me their Secret Keeper.

“But I ran into my demented cousin Bellatrix one day in Diagon Alley, and she  _ knew _ . It was too obvious. I made it clear through all of my years at Hogwarts and after that James was my brother, my family. So we had to change it and we’d have made it Remus, but he was off with the werewolf packs, so it left us with Pete. Lily and I went to Dumbledore’s office - he wasn’t there - and we cast the spell to change it. We had to take it to him, but it worked. It was… the biggest mistake of my life.

“And then, barely a week later, I got home to find that Pete wasn’t there. He was supposed to stay there at all times. I knew… I knew. I went, but I was too late. James and Lily were dead and Harry was in the crib, crying. So I took him and I was going to go look for Belle, but Hagrid showed up and took Harry to heal the cut on his head. I gave him my bike. I had no responsibility then, not in the state of mind I was in. I was a hit wizard, a former Auror, so I knew… 

“I left just enough of a trail so that Moody could find me should things go wrong. I found Pete in muggle London, but… he’s smart. Smarter than he ever got credit for. He yelled at me and asked how I could betray them and then… he cut off his finger and blew up the street. Muggles died, he’d gotten away. I couldn’t find him in his rat form, I knew it. I’ve tried before when we were in school. Only James was ever able to, though we never figured out how. I just… broke down. It was  _ my fault _ . I never should have switched with him. So I think I was saying that it was my fault, and I got arrested.

“I was just thrown in Azkaban. It was… difficult, but they didn’t know I was an animagus, so I shifted when it got too much. I could stay like that for weeks. It preserved my mind. And then Fudge came to visit one day and he had a paper on him, one that had a picture of a family. A boy the twins’ age had a rat on his shoulder, a rat with a missing toe. It was a longshot, but I was terrified. That boy went to Hogwarts, and I was scared he was there to kill them, so I broke out. I broke out by shifting into Padfoot - my animagus form - and got to Hogwarts. I stayed in the forest and Belle’s cat brought me food.

“It’s like she said. I found her running into the forest. She fell and I tried to patch her up, but I had no supplies or even a wand. My wandless magic hadn’t been used in so long. She used her time-turner to take us to the past and after I got her to Sni- Snape, I went to the Shrieking Shack. Remus got there about thirty minutes after I did, and I told him everything. Around two hours after that, Harry showed up with Daphne and Astoria Greengrass and Blaise Zabini, and I explained as much as I could to them. 

“After that, Belle and Daniel Greengrass showed up, and they told me their plan to offer me asylum, get me mind healing, and get me a fair trial. They took me to Greengrass Manor first and then to the healer. I spent eight months there going over the trauma I’d gone through, the things that messed up my head the most. I was surprised to find that, with professional help, it’s actually easy to overcome extended exposure to dementors. I went through some childhood and family shit and once I was mentally and physically healthy enough, I was released and we started working on this stuff.”

“Okay,” Amelia nodded, looking around. “We’ll take a short recess while I reach my decision.”

The Wizengamot doors opened up and the small group made their way out into one of the nearby waiting rooms to sit. Sirius was taken back to a different waiting area for defendants, leaving them to sit nervously and wait. No one spoke in the ten minutes it took for the woman to decide and call them back in. When they went back, they all sat on the lower riser nearest to the floor and there were many nervous, tapping feet. 

“Sirius Orion Black has been accused of the following crimes: treason, domestic terrorism, working with the Dark Lord Voldemort, murder of Peter Pettigrew, the murders of twelve muggles, and a breach in the statute of secrecy. He is cleared of all charges.”

There was a moment of silence while everyone processed, in which time a guard came to let Sirius out of the handcuffs and the small cage they’d put him in. Once he was out, the twins and Remus ran down to hug him, and the excited speaking and noise began, only to be cut off my Amelia. 

“There is the question of your illegal Animagus form.” she said slowly. “But as you’ve served a great deal of time already, I can forget that under the condition that you register with the ministry before leaving today.”

“Fuck, I can do that,” Sirius laughed. “Thank you.”

“We do have your wand,” a man, Kingsley, told him as he walked over. He handed the wand in question to Sirius, whose eyes lit up brightly at the feel of it in his hands. 

“So are we good?” Sirius asked Amelia. “Can we go?”

“Once you sign the registry,” she confirmed. “That’ll be in the second floor. Go on.”

Sirius let out an ecstatic whoop and wrapped his arms around the twins, leading them out. Everyone else followed them as well, though the kids were rushed back to school by Daniel, who promised to meet them at Gringott’s once he was done. 

The process of signing the registry was quick. It was literally just a magically enchanted parchment where you wrote your name. It didn’t even require you to write down the animal you turned to, and since it was so rare, barely anyone paid attention to it. Once he’d done that, they took the floo straight to Gringott’s to find Daniel already waiting for them with the goblin in charge of the Potter accounts. They were taken to an office instead of a vault where the men sat and the twins stood nervously. 

“I will now read the official will of James Potter first,” the goblin, Griphook, told them, picking up the first parchment. It was once they got past the official parts of the documents and into the parts about where everything would go that everyone began paying attention. “600,000 galleons will be left to Remus Lupin, as well as the German property that he loved.”

“ _ What _ ?” Remus breathed, eyes wide. “That’s- that’s so much!” 

“Not for them,” Sirius snorted. “They’re fucking rich, Moony.”

“For Sirius Black, I leave my share of the Diagon Alley property and the orders to not mess it up. I know Mum and Dad left you a lot more, as well as Alphard, but you’ll never have enough, so I also leave you 600,000 galleons.”

Sirius grinned. “I spent two years trying to get that property!” 

“As for guardianship,” Griphook read. He paused, looking up at the twins, who stood together nervously. He looked back down at the will and then up at them again before finally looking to Daniel. “This is the only will you found?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “Why? What’s wrong? It had Dumbledore’s seal.”

Griphook looked back down at the will and began reading slowly. “Guardianship of Harry James Potter is, upon the event of our deaths or inability to care for him, to go to Sirius Orion Black.”

“Okay, and?” Sirius frowned. “Belle too, right?”

“It… does not mention her,” Griphook told them, looking at the girl in question, who had stilled, her eyes wide. 

“Maybe it’s in Lily’s?” Remus frowned, confused. The goblin reached over and unsealed that will and skimmed it until he reached the part he was looking for. 

“Guardianship of Harry James Potter will, in the event of our deaths or inability to care for him, go to Sirius Orion Black. Harry is never to meet my sister, Petunia Dursley, or her family.”

“I don’t get it,” Belle frowned. “Why am I not in their wills?”

“I don’t know,” Sirius shook his head, frustrated and confused. “You were- they adored you, just like Harry. We all did.”

“According to these wills, you can have custody of Harry by the end of the day if you do it right,” Griphook told them. “He will never return to his aunt. Belle, however, must return to them."

“No,” Harry said sharply. “No, she can’t go back there. Not with- she isn’t. She just isn’t.”

“Legally, your godfather only has the rights to gain custody of you,” Griphook explained to him. “Your sister will return to your aunt.”

Belle turned and left the room, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She was a flurry of emotions: angry, scared, happy, but nothing more than confused. Had they not loved her? Why hadn’t she been there that night? There was too much that she didn’t understand.

“Belle,” Sirius called, closing the door to run after her. She turned around just as he opened his arms, and suddenly she found herself wrapped up in one of the most comforting hugs ever. 

“I don’t understand,” she said softly, biting her lip. “Nothing makes sense, Sirius. Something is… something is going on. I wasn’t even there that night. I wasn’t in their wills. I don’t- I don’t get it. Dumbledore messed with Harry’s mind and not mine while someone else messed with mine and not his, someone you said couldn’t possibly be my parents.”

“I know, kitten,” he assured her. “We’re gonna figure it out, okay? Even if you’re not on their wills, I can- I can do it, okay? You’re a Black. Distantly, but you are. If I become Lord Black, I can petition for custody of you. An Ancient and Noble House against muggles? It should be easy.”

“But… why? Didn’t they-,” she cut off sharply. She didn’t need him to hear her insecure question - didn’t they love her? Because it was the only reason she could think of that she wouldn’t be on their wills. “I don’t want to go back there without him. I mean… I don’t want him to go back either, but I don’t want to be alone there..”

Sirius stroked her hair comfortingly. “We’ll figure this out, kitten. I promise you.” 

“Okay…”

Sirius frowned at her. “I’ve met Petunia.”

Belle stepped back to look at him in surprise. “Really?”

“Yep. Lily asked me to go to her wedding with her. James had a temper that was… explosive around Petunia because of an incident when they first met. But as a perfectly bred pureblood, I was good at hiding how I felt when I wanted to. For Lily, I’d have done anything, so I did.”

“Why didn’t she go alone?” Belle wondered with a frown. 

“Ah, you know your aunt,” Sirius made a face. “No, Lily needed someone to support her. We had our differences sometimes in school, but I loved Lily like a sister since third year.”

“Why?”

“Because she found out about Remus. She showed up in the infirmary the next morning just before I got there and brought him chocolate and one of his favorite books and read to him while he was asleep. She was one of us then, even if she denied it for years. So, I went to the wedding with her. Petunia was… terrible. She pulled Lily aside just before the ceremony and just… ripped into her. Told her she had to stay because otherwise, people would talk, but that their parents’ death was Lily’s fault for being a witch, that Lily was a freak and deserved terrible things.”

“Oh,” Belle breathed. “I mean… I knew she hated her. When we found out about magic, she told us as much. Called her a freak.”

“Yep. So what I’m trying to say is that I get it, kitten. I’m going to work on this for as long as it takes and get custody of you, okay? If I have to, I’ll work the Lord Black angle… Merlin, I’ll have to become Lord Black, but I’ll do it, okay? You’re not happy there. We’ll get this mess worked out.”

“Thanks,” she smiled softly. She appreciated his kindness, but there would always be that part of her that didn’t believe she’d ever escape them and she wasn’t sure how to get that part of her to be quiet.

* * *

**_November 1st, 1993_ **

**_Gringott’s_ **

_ Dumbledore had been having a truly awful few months.  _

_ He’d planned things so carefully. His plans had been made over years and set in motion twelve years prior when he’d hidden the Potter’s will and placed the Harry and Belle with Petunia and Vernon Dursley. Minerva had tried to warn him against them, but it had just been exactly what he wanted.  _

_ He’d realized earlier in 1981 about the Horcruxes. He’d found the diadem in the Room of Hidden Things. He could’ve destroyed it, of course, but he had to wait. Voldemort would know that someone knew, and he couldn’t have that, not until he had all of them. _

_ But then the prophecy had been made and suddenly, plans had changed. It was no longer just about the Horcruxes but now about the boy. But  _ only _ the boy. He had to put them somewhere they’d suffer, even together. So, they’d gone to Petunia.  _

_ And that had clearly gone well. Harry had arrived at Hogwarts much worse off than a normal child. He was depressed, on edge, small, and he didn’t value himself at all. His theory about Harry being a Horcrux had been proven correct when he faced Quirrellmort in his first year.  _

_ Then, Sirius had broken out. Dumbledore had worked so hard to ensure that everyone overlooked him and that he didn’t get a trial. He’d cast a total of six Imperius charms, three of which were on Moody alone. Having already failed to keep Remus away from Harry, he had to succeed. But… he hadn’t.  _

_ Because Belle had found Sirius. She’d found him and had made a brilliant plan to fix the situation. That was what had led him to Gringott’s only minutes after the press conference. He still held a key to the main Potter vaults, simply because it seemed no one knew he had one. He’d walked in and looked around. The back of the room was covered in money while the front held heirlooms and important documents, including the wills.  _

_ He picked them up and opened them, scanning down the pages. Harry and Belle were to go to Sirius Black and, should he be unavailable, Frank and Alice Longbottom. After them was Andromeda and Ted Tonks, and after them was Minerva. Dumbledore shook his head and spent the next ten minutes searching for their old wills. He remembered those ones as he’d witnessed and sealed them. Upon opening, he was glad to see that they only mentioned Harry and were dated in November of 1979, at the very beginning of Lily’s pregnancy.  _

_ Dumbledore levitated the most recent wills and, when they were floating in the middle of the air, he lit them on fire and watched as they burned with satisfaction. Once they were properly destroyed, he sealed up the remaining wills and settled them in a trunk somewhere to make them harder to find.  _

_ Maybe Harry wouldn’t be staying with Petunia, but he also wouldn’t be with Belle, and it was clear he was significantly happier with her around. Maybe there was a shot at keeping him the way he needed to be to fulfill his role in the second war.  _

_ Maybe Dumbledore’s plans weren’t completely ruined.  _

* * *


	9. The Black Siblings

**December 9th, 1993**

**Quidditch Pitch**

The days following the trial were exhausting. The twins were asked numerous questions because the majority of the trial and specifics of what had actually happened weren’t released while the Aurors were looking for Peter, who still hadn’t been found. The rumors and questions were intense, but Belle only snapped when someone  _ somehow _ heard about the wills and spread it around the school. 

She got three detentions for each person she hexed. 

So, in an attempt to get her to relax, her friends dragged her down to the Quidditch pitch to watch the game. It was Slytherin against Hufflepuff and Harry, Blaise, and Draco were playing. Harry was Seeker, Blaise a Beater, and Draco a Chaser. It left her sitting with Daphne, Astoria, and Theo at the bottom of the Slytherin stands. 

“They’re going to die up there,” Belle winced when a Bludger nearly slammed into Draco’s head. She squeezed Theo’s hand tightly, feeling a little sick. “ _ Why _ would this relax me? You think I enjoy watching my friends almost die?”

“Do you think they’d enjoy watching  _ you _ almost die?” 

“Fuck off, Goyle,” Theo said, wrapping a protective arm around Belle. “Don’t you have better things to do than try and intimidate her?” 

Goyle sneered at him and walked down the stands. He shoved Belle with his shoulder and turned to walk down, not bothering to look as Crabbe, from the top of the stands, waved his wand at her and cast a spell that threw her over the railing to fly toward the ground. 

Her screams gathered the attention of both players and the people in the stands. People from both teams flew toward her to try and catch her - Harry, Draco, and Blaise, as well as Cedric Diggory and a few of his teammates. Unfortunately, Cedric barely caught her by her shirt and she still hit the dirt hard. 

* * *

“What the  _ fuck _ happened?” someone shouted as they stormed into the room, doors slamming behind them. 

“I don’t know,” a voice answered tiredly. “Goyle bumped her but not nearly hard enough to shove her off the stands. This was definitely on purpose.”

“Sirius is pissed,” someone else muttered. “He’s also pissed because Dumbledore won’t let him come visit.”

Belle groaned at the pain in her head when someone hit the table next to her bed. Her entire body hurt, but nothing more than her hand and head. She felt someone touch her shoulder and rolled her head to the side until her cheek touched the hand. 

“I think she’s waking up,” a voice - Draco - said, sounding worried. “All of you, shut up.”

“Belle?” Harry whispered. A hand touched her left hand, and she let out another groan and tried to force her eyes open. It took a great deal of effort, but when she did, she was overwhelmed by the sight in front of her. Harry and Draco were on either side of the bed with Daphne and Astoria next to them. Theo was sitting at the foot of the bed, and Blaise was frozen a few paces away from the bed, staring at her. 

“What happened?” she asked after a moment, wincing at the pain in her head when she spoke. “I don’t remember.”

“Somehow, Goyle shoved you off the stands,” Daphne told her gently. “Cedric Diggory caught you… er, sort of.”

“Crabbe probably helped throw you off,” Draco added. Belle tilted her head to look at Harry’s deep frown. 

“What did you say about Sirius?”

“Dumbledore won’t let him come,” Harry frowned deeply. “Remus was here a few minutes ago. He said he’s going to try using my cloak to sneak him in.”

“My head hurts,” Belle muttered. She looked down at herself and was surprised to find she couldn’t move her wrist at all. “What…?”

“You really messed it up,” Astoria told her bluntly. “Madame Pomfrey had to put an immobile charm around it while it heals. Aside from that and your concussion, you’re not too bad off. Diggory fell off his broom trying to catch you, though."

Belle gasped and sat up quickly, something she immediately regretted. “Is he okay?”

“He was discharged like ten minutes ago,” Astoria shrugged. 

“Lay down,” Draco told her sternly. She did as he said, mostly because she could clearly see the deep concern in his eyes. 

“Did you guys tell Snape?” 

“He suspended them both until after break,” Theo confirmed. 

“Get some rest,” Blaise said, speaking for the first time as he made his way over to her bed. “We’ll be here when you wake up.”

“Okay,” she agreed quietly. It would normally have felt weird falling asleep while all of her friends stared at her, but… she was so tired that she just didn’t care. 

* * *

**December 19th, 1993**

**Greengrass Manor**

“Will you tell us about your family?” Harry asked curiously. Sirius blinked in surprise and nodded slowly. 

“What do you wanna know?”

“Well, you had siblings, right? Tell us about them.”

“Harry, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Belle frowned.

“No, it’s okay.” Sirius paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. When he began to speak, his words were slow and careful. “Regulus was a year younger than me. I threatened the Sorting Hat when it tried to put me in Slytherin, but Reg wanted to do what our parents wanted for him, so he joined Slytherin. That year apart and then the age gap, it just did a lot to push us apart. We were close when we were younger, as close as you two, probably. Things changed. I got close with your parents, with Remus and Peter. I think Regulus felt… betrayed, maybe. 

“The last time I saw him alone before he died was in my sixth year, his fifth year. It was Christmas. I was sort of trapped by my mother and Bellatrix, though there were others there like Cygnus and my father and Regulus. They tried to force me to join Voldemort, and when I hadn’t given in after… maybe two hours, I was nearly dead. Orion made them stop, but I was left in the room with Regulus. I asked him to come with me, to leave Voldemort, but he said no. He sent me to your grandparents, and I stayed there after that.”

“They almost killed you?” Harry asked, horrified. Sirius nodded grimly. 

“It was a bad day. Until Cassie was born, your parents were the only ones I considered siblings after that.”

“I keep forgetting you had a sister,” Harry admitted, leaning back against the couch. “Will you tell us about her?”

Sirius gave him a sad smile. “Cassiopeia was born in September of 1979. She was… light. With the war surrounding us, she was so light. I did love her so much, and I know Reg did, too. He called her his Solis, his sun. Like the idiot he was, he swore some sort of vow to her. And I got to spend a full week with her before Moody made me go back to work. I gave her back to Orion and then a few weeks later, Regulus died. Three days after that, my friends had to break it to me that Cassie had died, too. I was… a mess.”

“I’m so sorry,” Harry told the man. He was given a calm smile in return. 

“It was a long time ago. Her death was hard because we all- your parents, Remus, and I, we thought maybe she’d be the first of the next generation. A peaceful generation. But we’ve got you two, and I’m perfectly happy with that.” ****

* * *

**September 30th, 1979**

**London Pub**

_ Orion stepped inside with his daughter in his arms, grateful to find neither of his sons had arrived yet. That, or they’d arrived, seen each other, and left. He took a seat in the window and waited, ordering water and two whiskeys for his sons. The drinks arrived a couple of minutes after ordering them, and then ten minutes after that, Regulus walked through the door. The nineteen-year-old boy stopped short upon seeing him and then walked over cautiously.  _

_ “Father,” he greeted, eyeing the baby in his arms, a silent question in his eyes.  _

_ “We have someone else joining us,” Orion said in place of an answer. Regulus nodded once and he took his seat. He only got more suspicious upon noticing the whiskey in front of him. Still, they waited quietly. It was five more minutes when Sirius got there. Upon seeing Regulus, he turned on his heel to leave, but Orion raised his hand. “Sirius Orion, get over here.”  _

_ Sirius marched over, likely fearing his father would be much too willing to break the statute of secrecy. He didn’t want to arrest his own father, even after his upbringing. “Why the fuck do you have a  _ baby _?” _

_ “On September 19th, your mother gave birth to Cassiopeia Narcissa Black,” Orion told his sons, both of whom stared at the sleeping baby like she was the answer to all of their problems. “You are both her godfathers.” _

_ “That’s fucking stupid,” Sirius muttered, though he was still staring at his sister in wonder. “We can’t raise her together if something happens to you guys. Ignoring the fact that he’s a fucking Death Eater, we’d kill each other.” _

_ “He… has a point,” Regulus admitted reluctantly. “She needs someone better.” _

_ “Narcissa is her godmother,” Orion told them. “She would go to them first. If Narcissa is unavailable, she will go to whichever of you is in the best position to take care of her.” _

_ “No,” Regulus said sharply. “I cannot be her godfather.” _

_ “Regulus-,” _

_ “She deserves a better life than whatever I could give her,” he explained. “I don’t want her to live in the darkness that I do. Truthfully, I don’t want her anywhere near Mother, either.” _

_ “I can’t believe I agree with you,” Sirius stared in shock. “She’s so…” _

_ “Light,” Regulus finished. “She should be safe. She should be happy. She should live in a world purer than the one we have now. If I can do anything to give her that, I will. I’ll swear that on my wand and magic - I’ll protect her however I can.” _

_ Sirius and Orion both stared in shock and horror respectively as Regulus’s words ignited a fealty bond, placing a mark on Regulus’s arm, as well as one on Cassiopeia’s.  _

_ “Shit, you’ve gotten dumber over the years,” Sirius laughed, still shocked. “You’d die for her?” _

_ “You wouldn’t?” _

_ “We’ve just met! She’s an infant!”  _

_ “That’s exactly why I did it!” Regulus shot back, his eyes flashing. “She’s just a baby, Sirius. If we do our best, we can protect her from the shit you and I went through. Or did you forget I grew up in the same damn house?” _

_ “What is done is done,” Orion told them firmly, recovering from the surprise. “We can do nothing to change it.” _

_ “No, we can’t,” Sirius agreed, staring at his brother. “You always told me I was looking to die, but it turns out you are, too.” _

* * *

**December 29th, 1993**

**Grimmauld Place**

Going back to his childhood home was difficult for Sirius. Finding and being unable to remove the screaming portrait of his mother was harder. Seeing Kreacher made him search his father’s office for his best firewhiskey. It was only after he drank a glass of it that he managed to turn to the safe in the office and open it. 

Inside of the safe were four things: two rings, one knife, and a bowl. He pulled out the Lord ring and the bowl with the knife inside and, after setting them all on the table, he went to close the safe. The only thing that stopped him was a shimmer of magic over the safe.

Sirius pulled his wand up and cast every spell he could think of. Multiple light and dark spells to reveal whatever was hidden failed, as well as a simple  _ Finite Incantatum _ . He reached in and felt around and was surprised to find a hidden folder. Pulling it out and opening it only frustrated him once more because the folder and all of its contents were completely blank. Nothing showed up, even under the best spells. 

“What are you  _ doing _ ?”

Sirius let out a yelp and dropped the folder on the floor. Remus chuckled and walked over to pick it up. “Merlin, Moony, you gave me a bloody heart attack!”

“Wizards rarely get heart attacks,” Remus rolled his eyes, looking over the blank folder. “What’s this?”

“I don’t know,” Sirius growled, tugging it away from his friend to wave his wand over it again. “It was hidden in the safe and I can’t get it to show up. Orion must’ve known I would be the only person that could get into the safe, so why did he hide this so deeply?”

Remus sighed. He’d spent a lot of time in school listening to Sirius complain about his family. They were valid complaints, but Remus had a perfectly clear answer for his friend. “Sirius, your father is a confusing man. No one knows anything he doesn’t want them to know.”

“The bastard is dead!” Sirius exclaimed in frustration. “He can bloody well give up his secrets now.”

“Did you come in here for a reason?” Remus questioned. Sirius paused and glanced down at the bowl next to him. Remus’s mouth dropped open. “Is that the Lord ring?”

“I promised Belle,” Sirius sighed, making a face of disgust. “I don’t know how else to help her, Moony. I have to help her.”

“It’s not your fault,” Remus reminded his friend, patting his shoulder. “Did you figure out  _ why _ they left her out of the will?”

“No. There’s nothing. She isn’t mentioned once in the will, and while there is enough money in the school vaults for two kids, her name is nowhere in any of them. There’s even a nameless trust vault just… sitting there. It won’t go to anyone ever until Harry becomes Lord Potter and can assign it to her. I just… don’t get it. They adored her, just like Harry."

“We just have to keep reminding her that they loved her,” Remus sighed, glancing at the bowl. “When are you doing this?” 

“Now,” Sirius grimaced. “Wanna witness?”

“Not particularly, but sure,” Remus sighed, grabbing the knife when Sirius handed it over. Once they were in position, Remus sucked in a breath and began. “ _ Familia ceremonia _ .” The bowl lit up brightly, pulling on the family home they were in to help with the ceremony. “Sirius Orion Black, Heir of the House of Black, will you accept the responsibility of becoming Lord Black?”

Sirius held back his reluctant groan and nodded firmly. “I will.”

“Will you stay loyal to the House and its members and protect them?”

“I will.”

“Will you ensure there is an Heir before the event of your death to carry on the House of Black?”

“I will.”

Remus reached over and, with the ring in the bowl, sliced Sirius’s palm open. Once blood began pooling in his palm, Remus flipped it over and let the blood drip onto the ring, which soaked it up until the blood was all gone. Once the blood had left, the bowl flashed before going dark, and the men exchanged a glance. Remus plucked the ring from the bowl and handed it over. “There you go, Lord Sirius Black.”

Sirius let out a groan and shoved the ring onto his finger. “I hate this just as much as I always thought I’d hate it.”

“Congratulations.”

* * *

“I don’t get it,” Harry admitted as they walked through the trees to catch the sight of a  _ very _ large house and its lawn. “Where are we?”

“This is Potter Manor,” Sirius explained. “I lived here from 1976 to early 1979 and spent a lot of time here before that. It’s your family home and we’re going to move in.”

“Belle!” Remus called out in slight panic, grabbing onto her arm to stop her from walking further. “There’s a Death Fidelius. Trying to walk in there would kill you.”

“ _ Merlin _ ,” Belle muttered, taking two large steps back. “How do we drop that?”

“Blood magic!” Sirius exclaimed. “Gimme your dagger.” 

Belle reached down and pulled it out of the sheath on her thigh and handed it over easily. He winked at her before he sliced his hand open and shoved his hand out, letting it drip over the grass. Some sort of magic rippled in the air, burning the blood away. 

“Harry, Belle, you do it now, too,” Sirius instructed. “But let Remus cut your palms. We don’t want you accidentally cutting it too deep.” 

“Is Remus going to help?” Harry asked, letting out a yelp when the man in question slid the dagger gently across his palm while shaking his head. Belle pushed Harry’s hand forward to meet Sirius’s and they watched as the wards accepted his blood as well. 

“Nope, just blood family,” Sirius explained. “Potter blood. I was adopted by blood in ‘76, so my blood works. While Mum and Dad loved Moony a lot, he had his own parents.”

Belle slid her other dagger across her palm when Remus was taking too long to clean off her other one. When she pushed her hand forward, however, her hand was caught in the ward and she shouted out in pain. 

“ _ Shit _ ,” Sirius cursed loudly, spotting her. She shouted, her arm stuck painfully in the wards, and he did the only thing he could think to do - he tore the dagger from Remus’s hand and cut his arm deeply, pushing it forward to meet the wards as well. The now freely flowing blood  _ finally _ released the wards, and Belle dropped to the ground upon being released.

The first thing Harry did was rush over to grab her in a hug and check her. Meanwhile, Remus pulled his wand and healed up Sirius’s arm with rushed, angry words of concern. Sirius ignored him and, once he was no longer bleeding, he made his way over to the kids. Remus gently pulled Harry aside, and Sirius tugged his wand out to wave over Belle. 

“What… happened?” she whispered as he cast a number of spells. “It…  _ hurt _ .” 

Sirius didn’t answer her, frowning at her still bleeding hand. He took a moment to heal and clean it before he spoke, choosing his words very slowly. “I know… we know something is going on. But I think we’ve been missing something that now seems… so fucking obvious.”

“What?” Harry asked nervously. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine,” Sirius assured him. “The wards would have held her and drained her core empty, but since we released the wards - and  _ never _ do what I did - she will be fine. Maybe a little tired.”

“But what’s happening?” Belle asked him, meeting his eyes. “I don’t understand, Sirius. Do you know why… all of this is happening?”

“I think I have an idea,” he admitted. He reached over to tug gently at her hair, a habit he’d picked up upon realizing it calmed her a great deal. “I’ll have to go over the documents in the vaults, but… I think you might be adopted.”

Harry snorted. “No way. She’s my sister! She’s my twin.”

“I’m not saying she isn’t,” he assured him gently. “But these wards would never hurt someone of Potter blood.”

“But… you’re adopted,” Belle disagreed, panic rising in her chest. “The wards didn’t hurt you.”

“I was blood adopted,” he corrected her. “When I was sixteen. You were a baby when they died, Belle. It’s illegal to do a blood adoption until three. They never got the chance.”

“Why wouldn’t they tell us?” Remus wondered. “Why wouldn’t they add her to the wills? We know they loved her.”

“I don’t know,” Sirius frowned deeply. “But I know who we can ask.” 

“ _ Who _ ?”

“Mum and Dad.”

“Er- Sirius, your parents are dead,” Harry winced. “And didn’t you hate them?”

“Sure, Orion and Walburga,” he agreed. “I mean my real parents, Charlus and Dorea Potter. Your grandparents.”

“Okay,” Remus said slowly. “But… they’re dead, too. They died in 1978.”

“Their  _ portraits _ ,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “Lily went to visit at  _ least _ once a week.”

“Where are they?” Harry wondered curiously. 

“Inside,” Sirius answered, glancing at Remus. “Why don’t you guys go ahead?”

Remus nodded and led Harry toward the house. Once they were out of earshot, Sirius moved to sit next to Belle, who was staring down at her hands quietly. 

“What are you thinking?” he asked softly. She didn’t answer right away, and he gave her a moment to gather her thoughts. 

“Who…” she trailed off, unable to finish her thought. 

“If we can find the adoption documents, we can probably find out,” Sirius told her carefully. “We can go later today, okay?”

“But do-,” Belle cut off, biting her lip. “If I’m adopted, do you even want to get custody of me?”

“Of course I do,” he bumped her shoulder. “I remember when I met you. You were bigger than Harry. It should’ve been a sign, I guess, but I didn’t think about it. You were so happy. You pulled my hair and the last time I saw you before Halloween this year, you were calling me by my name.”

“I don’t understand,” she admitted. “Why wouldn’t they tell anyone?”

“I don’t know, but I know it had to be a good reason. Whatever reason they had for doing this, I trust them.”

“Do you think this is why Dumbledore-,” Belle froze, her eyes widening. “He knows!” 

“What?”

“He knows, Dumbledore knows! He put those charms on Harry and not me. There had to be a reason, right? And now we know I’m adopted, so it makes sense that he knows.”

“Bastard,” Sirius muttered. “Stay away from him. I’ll be telling Harry as well, but I mean it. He’s obviously willing to hurt you if his entering your mind says anything.”

“I’m not exactly searching him out,” Belle assured him. “But if I’m adopted, then maybe- maybe whoever gave me up did this to my mind.”

“It’s likely,” Sirius confirmed. “And if we can’t find the documents, then maybe you can find out in your Occlumency sessions. If you find out, let me know right away, okay?”

“I will,” she promised. “Can we go ask them now?”

“Sure,” he agreed, jumping to his feet. He reached down to help her up and led her into the house where they found Harry and Remus talking near some doors. “Going dancing?”

“I was just telling him about the balls Dorea held,” Remus explained, closing the ballroom doors. 

“Belle and I are going to head down to talk to them. Why don’t you show Harry James’ room?”

Remus nodded and guided the boy in question up the nearby stairs after Harry had taken a moment to check on his sister. Once they were gone, Sirius led her down the hall into the kitchen, where they then opened a door and walked down some stairs into the large, open basement. 

“Sirius Orion Black!” 

“Fuck,” Sirius cursed, grabbing Belle’s arm in surprise. 

“Language,” Dorea scolded. Sirius relaxed and released Belle, leading her over to the two portraits hanging next to each other. “You brought Belle! I suppose that makes up for leaving us here for  _ years _ .”

“I was in Azkaban!” Sirius exclaimed, throwing his hands up. “You can’t blame me!”

“I do hope you’re kidding,” a man that Belle assumed was Charlus frowned. “Why on earth would you be in Azkaban?”

“Some asshole threw me in there without bothering to give me a trial because they thought I gave James and Lily to Voldemort,” he admitted. “But I’m out! We came here as soon as I got my shit together.”

“Stop cursing,” Dorea said, her lips pursed. “Belle is impressionable. No more than fourteen.”

“Belle curses more than I do,” Sirius rolled his eyes. 

“Sirius,” Belle said softly. He nodded a little and looked back at the portraits of his parents. 

“We’re here for a reason. Did James or Lily ever discuss adopting Belle?”

If portraits could exchange a glance, they did. 

“Is Voldemort gone?” Dorea questioned. 

“Yes,” Sirius answered easily. 

“Forever?” Charlus pressed. Sirius repeated his answer, but Belle shook her head quietly, gathering everyone’s attention. 

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked gently. “Of course he is.”

“His shade tried to kill Harry in our first year.”

Sirius waited for her to finish the joke and when she said nothing more, he sucked in a breath. “Oh, holy shit. What happened?”

“His shade escaped,” she shrugged. “And then… Sirius, do you know what Horcruxes are?”

Sirius really, genuinely looked like he was going to faint. “How do  _ you _ know about them? Those are really dark, kitten. Hogwarts shouldn’t even have anything on them.”

“Of course it didn’t,” she agreed. “But Nott Manor did. Theo’s dad is a curse breaker, so when Theo explained the diary to him, he gave Theo a book on Horcruxes and Theo gave it to me.”

“When was  _ this _ ?” 

Belle shrugged. “The whole diary thing was last year and I got the books in September. Voldemort has at least one Horcrux. It’s destroyed now but I don’t trust him to be dead."

“Okay,” Sirius said, his voice shaking. “And we will  _ definitely _ discuss that later, but let's get back to the point. Mum, Dad, do you know anything?”

“Well, we do,” Charlus admitted. “But if Voldemort is still around, I’m afraid we can’t say.”

“ _ What _ ?”

“All we can say is that Belle was adopted because she was in danger,” Dorea told them with a kind smile. “You all knew, actually. But when Harry was born, Albus Obliviated everyone and put in the fake memory of Belle being born with him instead. It was Lily’s idea.”

Sirius turned to stare at Belle, who was silent and frowning in confusion. “Are you telling me I knew who she was?”

“You did.”

“And I was right,” Belle said softly, mostly to herself. “Dumbledore knew. He knows.”

“Well fuck that,” Sirius growled. “If you won’t tell us, we’ll get it out of him.”

“I’m afraid not,” Charlus shook his head while Dorea scolded his cursing again. “It truly isn’t safe. Lily made Dumbledore take an Unbreakable Vow not to tell you until Voldemort will never be a threat again.”

“How could she be in this much danger?” Sirius asked, frustrated and more than a little scared. “How is being a Potter any safer than who she was before? Why would Voldemort want her so badly? She was a baby!” 

“Sirius,” Dorea shook her head. “You more than anyone should understand. Your own sister died as a baby just because of who she was.”

“So what now?” Belle questioned. “I don’t understand.”

“Now… I keep fighting for custody,” he told her. “I’ll get you out of there as soon as I can. But for now, we have the elves prep the Manor and head back to Greengrass Manor. We’ll move in over summer.”

“And you’d better take us upstairs,” Dorea told him sternly. “I do not enjoy guarding the heirlooms.”

“Yes, Mum.”

* * *

**January 1st, 1994**

**Greengrass Manor**

“So explain to me about fucking Voldemort.”

Blaise snorted, earning himself a glare from all three girls in the room. 

“Ah, come on,” Harry complained to Belle. “You told him?”

“I had to be honest,” she sighed. “Although I sort of wished I hadn’t been. Besides, I feel like he deserves to know. If we don’t tell him, Snape might. He’ll make it sound a lot worse than it was.”

“Yeah, for  _ you _ .”

“It’s really not fair that he’s angrier at me than you.”

“It’s because he cares more about you than Harry,” Astoria spoke up. 

“Let’s get back to the Voldemort thing,” Sirius requested, throwing a piece of popcorn at Harry and Belle both. “Explain.”

“Right, so… Quirrell was our first DADA teacher,” Harry began slowly. “But he was sort of being possessed by Voldemort while Dumbledore hid the Sorcerer’s Stone under the school for Nicholas Flamel.”

Sirius looked between the group of children, all of whom stared at him seriously. “Merlin. Okay, continue.”

“Well, there were protections around it,” Belle went on. “But things that Draco and I easily got through. We found out that Quirrellmort was trying to steal it, so bloody Harry runs after it and then Draco starts insulting him and running to stop him, and then I had to follow because they’d just get themselves killed, and then we all fell through the Devil’s Snare and there was no going back.”

“Shit.”

“So then-,”

“The bloody keys,” Belle scrunched up her nose, annoyed. Harry nodded quickly. 

“So there was a room of flying keys and a broom and Draco tried to catch the correct key first and when he couldn’t, I tried. I got it with only a couple cuts and we moved on. Then was the chessboard, which Draco took control of because I’m really not good at strategy stuff.”

“And there was the riddle, which was awful,” Belle added. “So Harry solved that and ran ahead while I made sure Draco wasn’t dead or anything.”

“Yeah, and I found Quirrellmort in there in front of the mirror of Erised trying to find the stone, and when I looked in it, the bloody stone showed up in my pocket. So he tried to kill me  _ of course _ and when I touched his face, he turned to gross ash. I woke up in the infirmary after that.”

“And this was… all in your first year?” Sirius wondered, looking between the kids. They all nodded, and he suddenly wished greatly for a strong glass of any alcohol. 

“Yeah, so second year was shit, too,” Belle continued. “Harry’s a parslemouth-,”

“ _ Fucking hell _ -,”

“I could hear the bloody basilisk in the walls,” Harry screwed up his face in disgust. “Makes it kinda hard to sleep, listening to this bigoted snake talk about killing muggleborns.”

“The basilisk was petrifying people,” Daphne reminded them. “It petrified Belle, too.”

“Yeah, and I could hear you guys all complain about me,” she huffed. “Even Snape visited and he said some weird, confusing shit.”

“The point,” Harry interrupted. “Is that the diary was possessing Ginny and controlling the basilisk and I had to fight the bloody thing when it kidnapped and tried to kill Ginny. This is while Belle was useless-,"

“ _ Petrified _ -,”

“And I nearly bloody died. Fawkes cried into my arm and saved me. I killed the basilisk, stabbed the diary, and that was that.”

“The diary… the horcrux,” Sirius frowned at Belle, who nodded. 

“When you know what to look for, it becomes pretty clear,” she shrugged. “That’s what Theo’s dad said. At least it’s dead now. I just… don’t really trust Voldemort to be fully dead."

“And then this year, you had to deal with me,” Sirius shook his head. “You two deserve a year of bloody peace.”

“That’s what we’ve been saying,” Daphne agreed, throwing her head back against the couch. 

* * *

“Sirius?”

“Hm?”

“Dumbledore caught me in the hall the day before your trial and he told me something that… I don’t know. He was trying to make me not want to help you, but I wanted to… ask.”

“What is it, kitten?” Sirius turned to her. He’d fallen asleep in the living room with the twins and while Harry was still fast asleep, they’d woken up when Icarus stormed into the room and jumped on both of them. 

“He said something about you leading Snape to a werewolf,” she explained. “I assume he meant Remus.”

Sirius fell silent and tried to gather his thoughts into something that made sense. “I did a lot of things I’m not proud of. For almost the entire duration of our school years, we all essentially bullied Snape. All of us but Remus. James was the first to stop in fifth year, then Peter in sixth year. Something happened sixth year, though… And I won’t say why, because nothing excuses it, but I was angry, furious at Snape. He was suspicious about us and what we did every month, so I dropped hints and led him to the Shrieking Shack on the full moon. James saved him, of course. Caught sight of him before Moony did and took him back to the castle, but… it was bad. I got off with a slap on the wrist and Snape had to Vow to never tell anyone.”

“Oh my god,” Belle whispered. “He could have died.  _ Remus _ could have died. If a werewolf kills someone, they’re executed.”

“I know,” he assured her. “I made a horrible mistake and wasn’t thinking clearly. I was… an angry, shitty kid. Before that Halloween, there was nothing I regretted more than risking them both like that. I almost lost my friendship with Remus… truthfully, I should have. He didn’t talk to me for the rest of the year and I wasn’t invited out there again until we left school.”

Belle was quiet as she considered what she’d been told. She supposed she could understand why Dumbledore would assume she’d hate Sirius for it, but he’d clearly not understood that she’d just talk to him about it. “Why  _ did _ he forgive you?”

“Honestly… I’m not sure,” Sirius admitted. “I wouldn’t have. I think it just became a thing of… the war was clearly happening and we had to stick together. I think he knew the very next morning that I was sorry and would never do it again, but it just took him time to move on. We needed each other, but… In a way, I hate that he needed me. He deserved to be able to move on if that makes sense.”

“It does,” she nodded quietly. “Thanks for telling me. I didn’t want… I didn’t want Dumbledore to get what he wanted and it’s helpful to see your point of view.”

“I don’t want you to think I’m making excuses for any of it,” he told her quickly. “Nothing I did was okay, and I have a lot of regret for the time I spent in school. While I’m not  _ happy _ that you guys seem to be in constant danger, I’m also glad to see you guys aren’t assholes like we were.”

“Harry is,” Belle muttered. “He can be.”

“So are you,” Harry grumbled. “Especially right now.”

“I thought you were sleeping,” Sirius laughed. 

“I  _ was _ and then you two started talking.  _ Let me sleep _ .”

* * *

**February 12th, 1994**

**Hogsmeade**

“What’s got you in such a bad mood?”

Belle breathed out hard and kicked some of the melting snow. Theo stopped walking to look at her, now worried. “Sirius sent me a letter.”

Theo hesitated. “About?”

“ _ Someone _ is blocking his claims for custody at every turn,” she explained. “From the looks of it, he won’t be able to do anything until we figure out who my real parents are and  _ they _ give him permission. None of this would be an issue if I’d been blood adopted, but you stupid wizards are so bloody dramatic about everything that nothing less than a blood adoption is viewed as valid.”

“Dumbledore?” he guessed with a small frown. She nodded shortly. “And your grandparents still refuse to tell you who gave you up?”

Belle shrugged. “I don’t even know if I want to know, if I’m being honest. They’re so serious about not letting anyone know unless Voldemort is completely gone, and if two dead people are that concerned, I feel like maybe we should be, too.”

“Who would still be looking for you now, whoever you were? Death Eaters aren’t active, Belle.”

“I don’t know. Honestly, I’m trying not to think about it. We haven’t gotten anywhere in Occlumency, and Snape isn’t sure when we will. It just- it’s gonna take some time.”

“Then for now,” Theo said with a small smile. “Let’s get some tea and read a few books and distract you.”

“Thank you,” she breathed gratefully, following him into the tea shop. She had good friends, she knew, and she appreciated their kindness greatly.

* * *

**May 16th, 1994**

**Hogwarts Hallways**

Belle tucked her books back into her bag as she shuffled down the hall, frustrated. She’d been struggling greatly with the meditation portion of becoming an animagus, something she’d told no one about so far. She’d been searching high and low for another option, and she’d been led to a difficult potion and charm mixture that she intended to attempt, possibly with Daphne or Draco’s help. 

“Told you she’d be here,” a smug voice stated. Belle’s head shot up and her hand fell down to the hem of her skirt, ready to grab for her daggers. “Ah, look, she’s all flustered, Crabbe.”

“We should help her,” Crabbe agreed, smirking at Goyle. Belle reached for her dagger, but the second she’d pulled it, he waved his wand. “ _ Expelliarmus _ !” Both daggers and her wand flew away from her, dropping to the ground halfway between them.

“Just leave me alone,” she said sharply. She could feel the bracelet Lord Greengrass had given her start burning her wrist, and she belatedly thought that it would’ve been very helpful a minute earlier. “I’m just going to bed.”

“Yeah,” Goyle smirked at her. “You sure are.”

“And you should know,” Crabbe added. “Lord Malfoy asked us to hurt you, but how was our mutual decision.”

* * *

Theo looked up as Belle stumbled into the dorm room. She fell onto Draco’s empty bed, and he rushed over at the sight of her coughing up blood. “Belle!” 

“Fuck,” Blaise cursed loudly, running over. Theo kneeled on the ground in front of his friend while Blaise ran down the stairs, likely looking for Draco and Harry.

“Belle, what happened? How are you hurt?” He reached up to touch her matted hair but she flinched violently and scrambled away from him until she sat at the head of the bed in a ball. “Belle…” 

She shook violently as Blaise and Draco rushed into the room, and as soon as Draco’s eyes fell on her, his face fell. “My father did this.” 

“What?” Theo looked at him. “How-,” 

“Crabbe and Goyle, I’m guessing.” 

His guess was proved by the way she closed her eyes and squeezed herself tighter at his words.

“Fuck!” Draco yelled. “I fucking knew it!” 

“Can we focus?” Theo snapped, waving at Belle. “Draco, go get Snape.” 

“I don’t want to-,”

“Well you need to calm down, and she’s  _ injured _ .” 

Draco nodded shortly and turned to run out of the room. Once he was gone, Theo took a deep breath while Blaise moved around the bed and held out a hand. Hesitantly, Belle grabbed onto it. Theo smiled gratefully at his friend as they waited impatiently for Snape, who thankfully arrived barely five minutes after Draco left the room. Harry still hadn’t shown up, and it was only when Snape came that he remembered the other boy had gotten detention earlier that day. 

“What happened?” Snape asked sharply as he moved toward Belle. The girl jumped back, falling into Blaise, who gently helped her stand up. “Miss Potter-,” 

“She was attacked,” Blaise explained. “We don’t know what they did. She won’t talk.” 

Snape reached out slowly, his hands in the air. Belle looked up, and there was a silent conversation between the two as they made firm eye contact. After nearly three minutes of the weird standoff, Snape stumbled back a little, blinking furiously. He steadied himself and was much stiffer as he moved. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. You all need to leave now.” 

“But sir-,” 

“ _ Now _ ,” he snapped. Draco was the first to storm from the room. Blaise gently helped Belle back onto the bed before following after his blonde friend, leaving Theo alone in the room with his friend and teacher. 

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” 

Snape looked at him. “I’ll come down when I’m finished healing her.” 

* * *

**May 17th, 1994**

**Black Lake**

Belle stopped walking upon spotting her friends. They were all tense and in a tight cluster, ready for some sort of attack. Harry was with them, looking sick. No matter how long she’d spent recovering, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be ready to return.

Regardless of her anxiety, she walked ahead and made her way over to the tree everyone sat under. They were all there - Harry, Draco, Theo, Blaise, Daphne, Astoria, and even Ginny. Astoria spotted her first and froze, staring at her, though she was speaking softly. Soon, everyone else turned as well, and she gave them all a weak smile as she reached them and sat down. 

“God, you look so  _ normal _ ,” Astoria muttered. “Where did they send you?”

“Where we sent Sirius,” she answered easily. “So it’s been… six weeks for me.”

“Time bubbles are weird,” Harry muttered. He hesitated when he went to hug her, so she leaned over and wrapped her arms around him tightly. 

“It was my father,” Draco stated stiffly, his eyes boring into the side of her head. She met his eyes and it was almost enough to make him look away. 

“It was,” she confirmed. “They told me as much, but they also told me he just wanted me to be hurt. What happened is… it’s on them. You’re not your father, Draco, you’re still my friend and I still love you."

“But what did happen?” Daphne asked her gently. “You don’t have to tell us, but… they said it was bad, Belle.”

“It was,” she answered quietly, biting her lip. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“What did they do there?” Harry asked her. She frowned. 

“They healed me physically first,” she explained. “That took a while, there were a few issues. Then they tried to heal my mind, but- but I didn’t let them. They had to find me a muggle therapist to try and help, and she did a little.”

“Why didn’t you let them help?” Theo frowned as Blaise pushed his way over settled his head in her lap when she nodded at him. 

“I don’t want anyone but Snape in my head,” she explained easily. “I trust him. I don’t know them.”

“But you’re okay now?” Draco asked with a deep frown.

“I am,” she confirmed. “So stop staring at me like that before I hex you.”

“Yep,” Astoria grinned. “Seems right to me.”

* * *

**June 19th, 1994**

**King’s Cross Station**

“You have your daggers?” Sirius asked, watching as she pointed them out. “And your wand?”

“They’re going to take that,” she answered, though she showed him the wand as well. “I mean it, I’ll be fine. If I’m not, I’ll get out. I’ll see you in August for the World Cup, anyway.”

“And you’ll write me, Remus, and Daniel at least twice a week,” he reminded her. She nodded, a fond smile on her face. 

“I have to go before his face turns purple,” she said, bumping his arm with her own. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Be safe,” he requested, pulling her into a tight hug. When he released her, he watched with anxiety rolling through him as she said goodby to Remus and then Harry before heading over to the fuschia looking Vernon.

* * *


	10. Cassiopeia

**July 26th, 1994**

**Grimmauld Place**

Sirius let out a frustrated grunt and chucked the mysterious folder at the wall. It hit it with a satisfying thud and fell to the ground, just as blank as it was before he threw it. With a small sigh, he walked over and picked it up again, tossing it back onto the desk. He’d been trying for  _ months _ to get the folder’s secrets to reveal themselves, and it hadn’t worked yet. 

When he took his seat again, he yanked the bottle of firewhiskey out of the open drawer and, forgoing a glass, took a big swig of it. His frustration was at its peak, and the irritation at being stuck in Grimmauld Place while the elves finished taking care of Potter Manor was certainly not helping anything. He’d already fired Kreacher and replaced him with a more competent elf, but it had barely helped. 

After putting the much-needed alcohol away, Sirius grabbed the folder again, albeit a little roughly. He cursed when the paper cut his finger, making it bleed. A drop of blood fell and he pulled the finger to his robes to wipe it off, freezing halfway there. 

The folder was  _ finally _ filled with words.

More specifically, three words. A name. 

_ Cassiopeia Narcissa Black _ . 

Sirius tore the folder open, letting out a grateful whoop when he found words slowly filling the paper. It was extremely obvious when he thought about it - Orion had loved blood magic and he should’ve guessed it would take his blood to finally expose the folder. 

When he looked down, there were pictures, documents, and a few letters, the top one being written by Orion himself, as well as the one under it. One was, to his surprise, addressed to him. He plucked it up and looked it over, his eyes widening the further he read. 

_ Sirius, _

_ It is no secret how dangerous it is to be in our family. Regardless of how you feel about us, you are a Black. You know how hard it is to grow up in this prestigious family and uphold our standards.  _

_ When Regulus told me that Cassiopeia deserved better, I knew he was right. Not only does she deserve a better world, she deserves a better, safer family. It was not my top priority while your brother was alive. He satisfied Voldemort’s craving for our family. _

_ I’m unaware of what transpired. I do not know how Regulus died, nor do I know why Voldemort feels he is owed something, especially one of us. I do know, however, of a place I can put her to live safely until it is time to reveal the truth.  _

_ I understand that Lily Potter is expecting. We have made a plan together with James and, Merlin forgive me, Dumbledore. Cassiopeia will become their daughter, and when their son is born, your memories will be permanently changed to suggest she is their son’s twin sister.  _

_ You must understand that Voldemort very clearly wants Cassiopeia. No one else will do, and no one understands why. She is in a great deal of danger. Only when he is killed will she be safe.  _

_ I plan to put glamours on her core to change her physical appearance to look more like Lily. Beyond that, I will be adding spells that mimic suppressive Occlumency shields to warn her away from all Death Eaters I know of and Dumbledore. When it is once more safe, you will be able to very easily remove these glamours with family magic - you know the spell. _

_ I have many regrets in life, but protecting Cassiopeia is not one of them. I hope you understand and agree. _

Sirius dropped the letter and sat back, staring blankly at the wall. 

Belle… was Cassiopeia.

“ _ Fuck _ .”

“Don’t curse with Harry around,” Remus chided, entering the room. He stopped and frowned upon seeing the wide eyes and open mouth on Sirius’s face. “What is it? Is everything okay?”

“Belle is adopted,” Sirius said slowly, rubbing his face. 

“Yes, we know that.”

“Moony, Belle was adopted from  _ my father _ .”

Remus paused, and Sirius wasn’t even sure he was breathing for a moment. 

“Fuck.”

“Thank you,” he waved before looking back down at the folder and flipping through everything. “It looks like James and Lily’s copies of the documents are in here, as well as letters from them to Belle- er, Cassiopeia?”

“Let’s go with Belle for now,” Remus suggested, shaking his head. “I don’t understand. When? Why?”

“After Reg died, Voldypants really fucking wanted her,” he explained, handing the letter over. “So Orion decided to work it out with James and Lily, I guess. He’s the one that fucked with her head, too, which makes sense.”

“No, Sirius, this makes a lot of sense,” Remus told him after a moment. He set the letter down and sat across from his old friend. “Didn’t you say Phineas’s portrait woke up for her?”

“It did,” Sirius remembered, his eyes widening. “Shit. We should’ve known. I should’ve checked.”

“This is good though! Didn’t Orion make you godfather?”

“On the condition that Cissa couldn’t take care of her,” he nodded. “And I’m sure that if I asked her, she’d pass up. I have to- holy shit, Moony, I have to get to work!”

“If we get Amelia’s help, we can probably have her by the end of the day!”

* * *

Belle had been having a shitty time.

The Dursleys hadn’t reacted well when they realized Harry wasn’t coming home but that they’d still been stuck with her. She’d gotten both her and Harry’s chores and had been told she was to do whatever Dudley asked of her as he was working hard to get into shape to join some sport or other that she was fairly certain he had no plans to stick to. 

Letters had, thankfully, been exchanged just as promised. The Dursley’s hadn’t even bothered to make her show them the letters when she suggested that they had magic and would know if the letters were forced or somehow faked. It had scared them enough that she was able to continue writing to everyone. 

It was that day that was particularly frustrating to her. Petunia had gone to stay with Marge for a week while the woman was sick, and Vernon had been called on a business trip to America, something he’d complained greatly about. It left her to do what Dudley told her to do, and it was getting increasingly worrying. He hovered quite a bit and bumped into her even more than that. 

Dudley made his way into the kitchen while she was cooking that afternoon. She tensed, totally aware of where he was. He sat at the table and just… watched her. She did her best to ignore him and finished cooking the chicken and put it on a plate with a salad. Once she gave it to him, she turned to leave the room and get on with the rest of her chores. 

Dudley grabbed her arm, his grip tight. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’ve got a million chores,” she answered, tugging at her arm to try and release it from his grip. “Do you need something else or can I move on?”

“I don’t want this chicken,” he answered, shaking his head in disgust. “I have something else in mind.”

“What?” she sighed, frustrated. “I don’t have time for this. The chicken is on your diet.”

“I read one of your letters,” he told her suddenly, confusing her. 

“ _ What _ ? Dudley, those are private!” 

“Nothing about you is private,” he snapped before smirking. “You were adopted, huh?”

Belle tensed and pulled at her arm again, a bad feeling rising up in her. “As soon as we find out who my birth parents are, I’ll be out of your way. Let me  _ go _ .”

Dudley got to his feet and towered over her, his recent growth spurt clear in their height difference. He jerked her closer to him, making her flinch horribly. “We’re not related, Potter. That’s my point."

Nausea filled Belle and, unable to quite reach down for her dagger, she lifted her free arm up and punched him in the face. Instead of releasing her as she’d hoped, his grip tightened and he just looked angrier. He shoved her backward hard enough that her head collided with the wall and she fell to the ground, quickly passing out from the impact. 

* * *

When Belle came to, she was barely aware of what was happening. When she did understand it, however, she felt a cool sense of calm come over her, possibly from shock. She just barely managed to grab one of her daggers and, only concerned with getting out of the situation, she arched it upward and watched as it sliced into Dudley’s arm, chest, and stomach and he began to bleed. 

The next few minutes moved in a daze. She shoved him away from her and cleaned herself up as best as she could, which unfortunately only meant dressing carefully. After that, when she went back downstairs, it began to sink in, only when she caught sight of Dudley bleeding openly. 

Though she was unsure how she got there, Belle picked up the phone and dialed the number she’d been given just before leaving school that year. It rang four times before someone picked up and she just let out a sob.

With the wards fallen because Harry wasn’t there, Snape just apparated straight over. He showed up in the very hallway she stood in and took a moment to look her over. “What happened?”

Belle pointed toward the kitchen door silently and followed him into the room, flinching at the sight before them. “I think he’s dying,” she whispered. “I’m- I’m not.”

“Gather your things,” he ordered her, kneeling down, his wand out. She did as he said, walking out to get her trunk and wand from the cupboard under the stairs. By the time she’d finally organized everything in her numb state, Snape was walking out of the room. “He will live.”

Belle just nodded quietly. 

Snape offered her his arm and she took it easily. The feeling of Apparition  _ hurt _ and she let out a short scream upon landing. It gathered the attention of the people around them, and Snape was forced to catch her as she began to fall. 

It wasn’t long before the mediwitches got to them and helped her to a room to be seen immediately. Snape sent off a couple of Patronuses but otherwise stayed by her side.

* * *

Sirius tapped his foot impatiently as Amelia filled out the paperwork. “Why is this taking so long? She was fake dead, not actually dead!”

“Calm down,” Remus put a hand on his arm. “She’s fine. We’re doing the best we can.”

A doe patronus ran into the room, Snape’s voice speaking out of it. “I have taken Miss Potter to St. Mungo’s. She cannot return to Petunia. She is being seen now.”

“ _ Fuck _ ,” Sirius cursed loudly. 

“If you can remove those glamours, this will go a lot faster,” Amelia informed him, getting up with him. Sirius nodded curtly and, without bothering to ask for permission, used her floo to get to the magical hospital. Remus and Amelia followed behind him and, after asking where she was, he headed to her room. Snape was still there and while there was no one there treating her, it was clear by the blank look on her face that she still needed help. 

“Hey kitten,” Sirius said cautiously. Her eyes flicked to him for barely a moment before she just stared at the wall again. Sirius looked to Snape instead, frowning. “What happened?”

“That is not for me to say,” he told the man. 

“Fuck this,” Sirius scowled, unwilling to fight Snape. He shoved his way over to Belle and held his hand out above her carefully. “ _ Medicas adhibere magicae familia _ .” Dark magic escaped his palm and wandered over her body before it settled into everything from her legs to her stomach, as well as her head. Moments after the healing magic fell away, she gasped in shock and pain as the glamour that was wrapped tightly around her core was destroyed and her red hair and green eyes morphed into her natural black hair and silver eyes. “Holy shit,” Sirius muttered, staring at her with wide eyes. “Shit, if I was unsure before, I’m sure as hell not now.”

“W-what?” Belle gasped, looking down at herself. She felt physically better and even somewhat mentally, but the sight of her hair changed was shocking and a little bit scary. “Sirius, what did you do?”

“You’re my sister!”

“Merlin,” Remus sighed. 

“I don’t… understand,” she frowned, grabbing the curly black hair. “Your sister is dead, Sirius.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he agreed, sitting down in the chair next to her. “But earlier today, I managed to get that empty file to reveal itself and it had adoption papers and letters. James and Lily adopted you from Orion when Reg died because Voldemort wanted you so badly.”

“But is this… safe?” she asked, waving to her hair. “If he wants me so badly and we know he’s alive, is it safe for me to be… this?”

“The issue is that Orion wrapped the glamour around your core,” Sirius explained. “That can’t be replaced. The only reason it worked was because you were so young. You’re stuck like this, kitten. I’m sorry.”

“I’m Cassiopeia,” she muttered. “I’m your sister. So then… do I have to… go back?”

“You will not return,” Snape said sharply. “I will handle them. You are not going back there.”

“Sirius will have custody of you by the end of the day,” Amelia assured her. “What happened? Did someone attack you?”

Belle tensed and looked at Snape, who got Amelia’s attention.

“Her cousin. I do not imagine, however, that she would wish to make a statement. I will handle the situation. She can go home with Black.”

“You should be completely healed,” Sirius promised. “Any injuries would be completely healed.”

Belle looked at Snape, worried. “Would it take care of-,”

“It is unlikely,” he hummed. “I can get the necessary potions for you and bring them over when I finish here.”

“What are you talking about?” Sirius made a face at the man. “Family healing magic can heal almost anything when it can be summoned. It’s a bloody miracle that it worked, but it definitely worked.”

“It is not your concern,” Snape sneered. 

Belle pushed the blanket off of her and sat up, wincing at the sight of her. There was blood all over, likely from the way she’d hurt Dudley. 

“ _ Merlin _ , whose fucking blood is that?” 

“Not mine,” she answered, slipping on her shoes. Her hair fell in her face and she paused to look at it. It was all tight curls and obsidian, different from the light catching red she’d had before. After saying a quick thank you and goodbye to Snape, she left with Sirius and Remus while Amelia went to the ministry to finish up the paperwork. Sirius carried her trunk over to Grimmauld Place and Remus went to find Harry and send him to Greengrass Manor while they sorted everything out. 

Finally, the trio sat in the kitchen together with tea. Sirius had grabbed the file in question, but it sat unopened in front of Belle, who was just very conflicted. 

“How can I be your sister? I mean, I guess I get how and it sort of makes sense because of that portrait but… I don’t know. I’m confused.”

“Me too,” Sirius admitted. He paused. “Hey, let me see your left arm.”

Belle lifted it up and shoved her sweater off her arm to show him. 

“It’s there! Shit, I thought it’d be gone.”

Belle looked at her wrist to find a black band wrapped around it. “Oh my god, what is that?”

“It’s the bond mark from Regulus,” he explained, tapping it curiously. “It showed up when he swore that vow to you.”

Belle frowned, remembering the very first time she’d learned about the Blacks. “When Lord Nott was telling me about you, your-  _ our _ family, he mentioned Regulus’s name and it was… weird. It felt like my magic was preparing for something, like it shifted in me. It sort of… hurt.”

“That makes no sense,” Remus spoke up. “I get it if the bond still had someone to uphold it, but Regulus is dead. He’s… dead, right?”

“Definitely,” Sirius assured him. “I checked the tapestry and it only changed Cassie’s death date to be clear. Orion and Regulus are definitely dead. That is… I don’t know why it would do that.”

“But what happened?”

“It sounds like your magic was preparing to seal an unsealed bond. It can only be the one he started when you were a baby. It should’ve faded when he died, though.”

Belle felt a frustrating disappointment. She had Harry and Sirius, she knew, but she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Sirius had very little to say about their brother simply because of how they’d been pushed apart as kids, but she wanted to know about the one she’d never meet. She’d spent many months curious about the family that had given her to the Potters, and now that she knew, she couldn’t help but be upset. 

“Hey, what is it?” Sirius asked gently. Belle shook her head. 

“I don’t know. I guess I’ve been having a hard time since we figured out I was adopted,” she admitted. “I’ve been so… frustrated and confused, and I keep thinking that maybe they didn’t really care. I think maybe I thought that I’d feel better if I know who… but I’m just more confused.”

“I know you’re confused, Belle, but I promise they did love you,” he assured her. “Somehow, even Orion loved you. He loved you enough to go through all this bullshit to keep you safe. We’ll figure it out, okay?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Okay.”

* * *

“ _ Put that down before I shove it up your ass, Potter _ .”

Harry snorted and dropped the snitch, watching it close up. “Someone’s cranky.”

“ _ Someone _ tricked me into coming over here for no apparent reason,” Draco shot back. “Why are we all here? I had things to do.”

“No you didn’t,” Blaise rolled his eyes. “Chill. Sirius said it’s important, didn’t he?”

“Sirius also said he’d be over in five minutes,” Astoria pointed out, also feeling rather impatient. “It’s been thirty.”

A large dog patronus ran into the room, surprising all of them. “We’re on our way. I’ve got Belle with me.”

“Belle?” Harry perked up before pausing. “Wait, if he has her… something happened.”

“But she’s with him,” Daphne reminded him. “Which probably means she isn’t going back.”

The floo lit up in the next room and, a few moments later, Remus stuck his head in with a nervous smile. 

“I’m glad everyone is here. Sirius and Belle are here too, but I thought it might be important to let you guys know that we can explain almost everything.”

“What’s going on?” Harry frowned. “Is she okay?”

Belle pushed past him, making a face. “I’m  _ fine _ . They’re just being dramatic.”

Her words were met with a beat of confused silence.

“She looks like Aunt Bella,” Draco said, speaking before anyone else. 

“I’ll still hex you,” Belle muttered.

“So when are you going to explain…  _ this _ ,” Daphne asked, waving at Belle in general as Sirius entered behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. 

“She’s my sister!” 

“Merlin, Sirius, stop that,” Remus rolled his eyes. 

“What he  _ means _ ,” Belle spoke up. “Is that Orion gave me away when Voldemort, for some reason, suddenly was obsessed with me. I look different because I  _ was _ hurt and Sirius used some sort of spell that healed me and changed me back.”

“It was family healing magic,” Sirius explained. “It’s really finicky and rarely works. It probably worked because of Orion’s magical signature on her core from the glamour.”

“So now you clearly look like a Black,” Theo spoke up with a frown. “Isn’t that dangerous? What about your name?”

Belle looked around, considering the questions. “I don’t… really know. I think it might be dangerous, but there’s not much we can do about it. If I look the way I do, it’ll get out sooner or later, so we’re probably going to do a press conference or something. As for my name… I don’t really know. I’ve felt… disconnected from Belle Potter since I found out I’m adopted but… I think maybe I’d like to try Cassiopeia?”

“We can do that, kitten,” Sirius assured her. She looked at Harry nervously. 

“Are you upset?”

“Are you still gonna be my sister?”

“Always.”

“Then I don’t give a shit.”

“Harry,” Remus shook his head. It was useless, he knew. 

“You really do look like her,” Draco told her, moving over to touch her hair. “Mum would probably love to meet you.”

“Your mother is her godmother,” Sirius told his cousin. “And since I have an heir now, I intend to fix shit.”

“A what now?”

Sirius grinned at Belle. “Surprise! You’re gonna be my heir.”

“I can’t be! I wasn’t raised to be an heir and I don’t know enough about it. Plus, Draco’s next in line!”

“Sure, if you weren’t alive,” Sirius agreed. “But you are, so you’re my heir. Fight me, kid.”

“She’s not going back there, right?” Blaise asked, gaining everyone’s attention. He’d been pretty quiet for the most part, but he’d asked the question they’d all been worrying about. 

“No,” Sirius answered firmly. “I’m not sure what happened, but there was a shit ton of blood. She won’t see them ever again.”

“It wasn’t mine,” Belle spoke up before her friends could freak out. “I was just fighting back and maybe fought a little too hard.”

“Who was it?” Harry wondered. Belle hesitated. 

“Dudley.”

“Was it like last year?” 

She almost yelled at him for asking in front of so many people, but instead, she just shook her head. “It was worse. But I managed to get to my dagger and- I think Snape healed him up or something. I don’t quite remember.”

“Fuck,” Harry muttered, walking over to wrap her up in a hug. She’d never told him quite what had happened the day they left the Dursley’s, but he knew it had scared her a great deal. If it was  _ worse _ than that, she had to have been terrified. “Shouldn’t have let Snape heal him, though.”

“You know,” Astoria spoke up. “Belle is really hard to make up nicknames for, but Cassiopeia isn’t. I think I like your new name.”

“She doesn’t technically have to take the name, but it will definitely make a bigger impact on the Wizengamot,” Sirius added. “They’ll take you much more seriously now, kitten. No more fighting.”

“Maybe I should go get my mum,” Draco suggested. Sirius shook his head quickly. 

“Family meeting soon. No need.”

“The Black family is back,” Astoria grinned. “This is gonna be so fucking cool.”

* * *

**August 3rd, 1994**

**Potter Manor**

“Sirius, this is really stupid,” Cassiopeia said bluntly, tossing the bracelet back to him. “I don’t need to control the damn wards.”

“You never know,” he disagreed, throwing it at her head and chuckling when she grabbed it and glared at him. “I’m inviting Rodolphus and Rabastan. They might attack you.”

“I met Rodolphus the night I found you,” she informed him, looking down at the silver bracelet. “He didn’t seem murderous then.”

“For my peace of mind,” he requested. “I’m losing my shit here, Cas. I’m Lord Black!” 

“Yes, and you have been for some months,” she reminded him, shifting. It was hard getting used to the name, but she’d been surprised to find how nice it felt. Sirius informed her that it was something to do with the family magic, something that was running in her since the heir ritual had been completed days prior. “You’ve seen Tonks, you got a letter from Andromeda, and Narcissa seems excited, too. Chill.”

“Why aren’t  _ you _ freaked out? That’s the more important question.”

“Honestly?” she asked with a small laugh. “Snape gave me two calming draughts this morning after Occlumency. He brewed them himself, so they’re rather strong. I saved the other one if you’d like it.”

“I don’t need Snape’s bloody potion,” Sirius huffed. “Please, kitten, just put it on. One less thing for me to worry about.”

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes and placed the thin cuff on her wrist. It lit up for a moment and she felt the wards shift to her control, a strange power she’d never felt before. “Merlin, Sirius, these aren’t the wards for the  _ entire house _ , are they?”

“Er- yes?”

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. “Okay, well, we’re going to be late. Remus told us five minutes ago that everyone is here.”

Sirius made a face. “I changed my mind, I don’t wanna.”

“You’re a child,” she complained, pushing him toward the doors. He smacked at her hands and, once she released him, he straightened his robes, squared his shoulders, and opened the doors to the large sitting room. 

On one side of the room sat Andromeda, Ted, and Tonks with Harry. On the other was Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco. In between them in the back was Rodolphus and Rabastan, the latter of whom looked rather disgusted. 

Sirius led Cassiopeia into the room and she gathered more attention than he did, to no one’s surprise. Even Narcissa was staring, and she blinked at Draco.

“You didn’t  _ tell her _ ?”

Draco shrugged. “You said there’d be a family meeting soon and not to.”

“No, that was him,” she pointed at Sirius. “ _ I _ told you to tell her so that she wasn’t surprised.”

“Honestly, I was getting bored. I wasn’t listening.”

“This is impossible,” Narcissa interrupted. “You died.”

“That’s what we thought,” Sirius confirmed. “I’m sorry to surprise you, Cissa. Cassie was given to James and Lily when Voldemort - get over it, Lestrange - when Voldemort decided he needed her for whatever fucking reason. Orion was a bastard but even I have to admit it was a good idea.”

“I don’t understand,” Andromeda told them. “Who is she?”

“Ah, shit,” Sirius cursed. “No one bothered to tell you when she was born?”

“Evidently not.”

“In late September 1979, Orion tricked Reg and I into a muggle bar to tell us that we had a new sister, Cassiopeia Narcissa Black. Cissa is her godmother, but she’s staying with me. Orion faked her death a few days after Reg died, and she became Belle Potter.”

“Is there a  _ reason _ we’re here?” Rabastan asked with disgust. “I don’t care to watch the Black family dig itself out of its grave.”

“There is,” Sirius confirmed. “Unfortunately for us, you were a part of Bella’s contract. For reasons I don’t understand, Arcturus agreed to invite you into our House when she married Rodolphus. Good thing, though, is that we’ve got primacy!” 

“Is this a big ‘fuck you’ to them?” Tonks whispered to her mother, who gave her a stern look to quiet her. Tonks took that as a yes.

“What are we doing here, Black?” Lucius asked him with great disgust, glaring between Sirius and Cassiopeia.

“We’ve got primacy over you, too, so shut up,” Sirius glared. “This is a family meeting. I’m going to fix some of the shit that got fucked up in this family. Of course, I’d have invited Bella, but she doesn’t get many days out.”

Cassiopeia nudged him. “Someone’s going to hex you soon. Hurry up.”

“Right, okay. First off, I suppose, is that Cassie is my heir.”

“She can’t be,” Lucius argued immediately, standing. “Draco is next in line!” 

“Behind Cassiopeia,” Sirius shot back. “She is my sister and in the same generation as Draco. As patriarch, I decide the next heir, and it’s her.”

“This is ridiculous,” Lucius snapped, glaring at Cassiopeia. “Draco has been raised to take on the role of Black patriarch! You were raised by  _ muggles _ .”

“Better than raised by you,” she spat. “I love Draco dearly, but he doesn’t give a shit. Now sit down before the wards suffocate you.”

Lucius did as she said but only because the wards were, in fact, tightening around him. 

“I told you so,” Sirius bumped her arm. “Yeah, anyway. Let’s start with something nice and then we can get into the dark shit. Dromeda, would you and your family consider joining the family again? It does come with compensation for the shit Bella did when you left and a decent dowry for you and Mini Tonks since you should’ve had that before.”

Andromeda exchanged a look with her husband before looking back at Sirius. “Thank you, Sirius. I always knew you’d be a good Lord Black.”

Sirius screwed up his face. “And somehow, you never stopped reminding me.”

“I dunno, I think she’s right,” Tonks grinned. “You’re going to have the first matriarch in three hundred years when Cassiopeia takes over.”

“If we can move on,” Sirius requested, his eyes falling on the Lestrange brothers. “Answer me truthfully. Did both of you assist Bellatrix in torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom?”

“No,” Rodolphus answered easily. “Only Rabastan.”

“Cool,” he nodded. He’d already known the answer, he’d just wanted to see if Rodolphus was more loyal to his brother than he was intent on living. He called for their elf, Mipsy, and nodded at Rabastan. “Please escort him down to the basement and ensure he stays there.”

Mipsy grabbed onto Rabastan and popped out with him. 

“What are you doing?” Andromeda asked him. He ignored her, still looking at the elder brother. 

“ _ Verum Magicis _ ,” Sirius said sharply. Soft magic settled in the air around Rodolphus and a few people gasped. “Why are you a Death Eater?”

Rodolphus, aware of what the spell did, chose wisely and answered truthfully, though he looked at Lucius hesitantly first. “It was life or death. I chose to become a Death Eater to save myself.”

“And what did you do to become one?”

“I had to kill a muggle,” he winced. 

“Tell me, in general, about the crimes you’ve committed.”

“I helped Voldemort plan and killed the muggle, but I was never very involved in the torturing or killing. Bellatrix enjoyed that and was glad to do my part.”

Sirius nodded and dropped the spell. “Okay. Denounce him right now.”

Rodolphus avoided Lucius’s furious gaze. “I am not and never will be loyal to the Dark Lord Voldemort.”

Sirius turned to Lucius then, finished with the man. “Cas, make him uncomfortable.”

Cassiopeia focused on the wards and pulled them tightly around the man until he was squirming. “Anything more than that and I’ll really injure him.”

“You haven’t respected the primacy Narcissa holds over you.”

“There was no Black patriarch,” he defended. “I could not be sure her decisions would be best for us or our son.”

“She’s a person,” Cassiopeia snapped. “Probably a better bloody person than you. You should have trusted her and listened to her.”

“He’s my heir!” Lucius snapped. “ _ You _ messed it up!”

“It’s not my fault you told him ridiculous lies,” she rolled her eyes at him. “ _ Mud _ ? Really? That’s impossible. No one could survive with mud in their veins.”

“What did you do for Voldemort?” Sirius interrupted before they could continue arguing. Lucius was already furious with her and she was only making it worse. 

“I gave him complete financial and political support,” Lucius admitted easily. “I killed a few of his enemies.”

“Like who?” 

“Marta Nott.”

Cassiopeia gasped with Draco and Harry and accidentally tightened the wards, her anger driving her. Sirius put his hand on her shoulder. 

“You can’t kill him,” he told her plainly. “I mean it, Cassie, you need to take a deep breath. He’ll be punished for it.”

Digging her nails into her palm, she forced herself to relax the wards.

“Anyone else?” 

“Your father.”

Sirius felt a raging mix of emotions and nodded. “Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” he breathed, looking to his sister, who had walked over to grab Draco and Narcissa’s hands and tug them away from the man, purely because she was furious and didn’t want them around him. “I know what we’re going to do with you. First off, Cissa, I’m sorry, but your marriage contract has been violated and therefore will be dissolved. You’ll be Narcissa Black again and custody will go to you because Lucius is going to Azkaban.”

“You can’t do that!” Lucius shouted in a fury, his face turning a familiar purple that Cassiopeia and Harry associated with Vernon Dursley. 

“I can,” Sirius shot back. “Mipsy!” the elf popped in, excited to help. “Please take this man to Amelia - she’s awaiting anyone I send to her.”

Once Mipsy had grabbed onto Lucius and popped out, Sirius sucked in a deep breath and sat down next to Cassiopeia on the couch she’d fallen onto.

“What will we do?” Narcissa asked him, concerned. “If our contract is dissolved, we cannot stay in Malfoy Manor.”

“Of course you won’t,” he rolled his eyes. “You’ll stay with us, if you’d like. If not, we can set you up somewhere else.”

“I think I would quite like to be with family again.”

“This next part is… not so fun,” Sirius admitted. “And while I’d love to give you the chance to say goodbye, Cissa, I truly couldn’t get her released for this.”

“What are you talking about?” Narcissa asked him carefully. 

Sirius took in a deep breath and lit up the family magic. “I, Lord Sirius Black, do call Judgment upon Bellatrix Dorea Lestrange neé Black.”

Narcissa and Andromeda gasped loudly as the family magic pulsed in the air before a large influx of magic rushed into the room and settled. Once it was all there, the family magic went back to Sirius, clearing the room. 

“Okay so… what just happened?” Harry asked, confused. Tonks nodded along, equally unsure. 

“Judgment call upon family magic and pure magic to judge the actions of a person,” Cassiopeia explained to them. “If they find them lacking, they…”

“They remove the magic,” Draco finished for her. “And when that happens, you die. She’ll be dead by morning.”

“I’m sorry,” Sirius said at the looks he got from Rodolphus and Narcissa. “But she’s fucked this family up and damaged the House of Longbottom.”

“She also tried to kill me once,” Cassiopeia added, surprising everyone but Harry and Draco. 

“Yeah, she tried to drown her in the pool when we were three,” Harry confirmed. “She just jumped into the pool fully clothed.”

“Okay… that too, then,” Sirius shook his head. “Fuck, why didn’t you tell me?”

Cassiopeia shrugged a little. “It wasn’t relevant?”

“ _ That is definitely relevant _ .”

“May I leave?” Rodolphus asked, eyeing Cassiopeia hesitantly. 

“Yeah,” Sirius nodded. “Actually, the meeting is over. There’s a press conference to announce this in a little bit, so I’d appreciate if you didn’t mention anything about Cassie until it’s out.”

“And us?” Narcissa asked. 

“You guys can have the east side of the fourth floor,” Sirius offered. “Have your elves bring your stuff over. Dromeda, Tonks, Mini Tonks, you’re all free to stay however long you want. We, however, have to get to the ministry.”

* * *

“This is weird,” Cassiopeia muttered, tugging at the red hair. Sirius had temporarily glamoured her for the press conference just so that they recognized her first. It was oddly uncomfortable for her to be back with the red hair and green eyes, and she was startled to find the black band on her arm missing. It had become something she touched or just looked at quite often.

“Just for a few minutes,” Daniel promised, walking with her and Sirius up to the podium. The reporters were already there and rather excited, mostly because it was a joint announcement between the Potter and Black Houses. “Thank you all for coming.”

“This announcement was given a lot of consideration,” Sirius admitted. “But it is important, unfortunately. I know it got out at the beginning of the year that Belle was adopted by James and Lily, and I’m sure everyone has assumed that we’ve been looking for her birth parents. It was a frustrating search, but I happened to stumble upon the adoption papers in my father’s safe. 

“Belle is actually my not-so-dead sister, Cassiopeia Black. She was given to James and Lily for safety. Since I was named one of her godfathers, I do officially have custody of her.” Sirius made his point by waving his wand at her silently and dropping the glamour to reveal her true, Black style look. 

“We will take a few questions,” Daniel confirmed when hands flew in the air. He pointed at a rather calm looking woman first. 

“Cassiopeia Black was said to have died days after her brother and with her father. Does this mean either of them is still alive?”

“No,” Sirius shook his head. “Our tapestry - it’s a magically updating family tree - confirmed with some magic that she is alive but that they are not. Beyond that, I have recently discovered the person that killed Orion. They are in custody of the DMLE now.”

The next person to ask a question was a man named Rookwood who was looking at them with a rather Slytherin smile. “Does this at all interfere with Draco Malfoy’s claim on the Black heirship?” 

“It does,” Sirius confirmed slowly. He took Cassiopeia’s hand and raised it for them to see the heir ring. “Draco was uninterested in it and I believe Cassiopeia would be a better fit for the position.”

“Does her claim on the House of Potter end and if so, will the few changes she’s made be reversed?” 

“She will be involved in the House of Potter until the time that Harry is ready to take over himself as he is currently busy with other things. Her main focus will be the House of Black, but she was legally adopted by James and Lily Potter, so she does have just as much claim to the House as Harry,” Daniel explained. 

“Will she be changing her name?” the kind man from the last press conference, Lovegood, asked with a nice smile. 

“I am,” Cassiopeia answered that one. “Not because I don’t appreciate the family I was given but because I feel more connected to this name because of our family magic, which I have access to as heir.”

“That will be all for now,” Sirius told them. He led Cassiopeia off the small stage with Daniel behind them and slipped into the floo. 

It had been a trying day but they had accomplished quite a bit. Legally, officially, Belle had been renamed Cassiopeia Black, and the world knew her as that. Things were looking up from the earlier part of the summer and possibly the earlier part of her life. 

Things were good.

* * *


	11. The Cup

**August 17th, 1994**

**Potter Manor**

Harry stepped into the library cautiously with Remus, eyeing the frustrated girl as she let out a groan and tossed her quill directly at the wall. It broke and fell to the floor, some ink getting on the wall and floor. She hadn’t spotted them yet, so Harry grabbed Remus’s arm and whispered to him. “This is  _ not _ safe. Maybe we should just… go.”

Remus shook his head at Harry. “Something is bothering her. Have you tried asking?”

“Yeah, she threw a book at my head.”

“Go find Sirius. I’ll talk to her,” the man suggested, laughing softly at the relief on Harry’s face as the boy sped back out of the library. Remus picked up the quill and vanished the ink. With the broken quill in hand, he made his way over to Cassiopeia, whose hair was beginning to spark. “Your quill broke.”

“Good,” she huffed, glaring at the quill in his hand. “I’m busy.”

“I can tell,” he agreed, sitting down across from her. “Glaring at those books. Which are… why do you have books on Death Eaters and the Black family?”

“It doesn’t  _ matter _ because they’re not helpful,” she huffed, slamming her book closed. 

“What’s going on? Harry said you threw a book at his head.”

Cassiopeia looked up, surprised. “I did?”

“According to him.”

“I’m frustrated,” she admitted. “Sirius has been telling me a lot about our family, you know. Good and bad. Walburga, Orion, our cousins, all of them. He even told me about Phineas Nigellus. The  _ one person _ he refuses to talk about it Regulus.”

Remus sighed and nodded. It made sense. She lost a brother she hadn’t known she had, and the brother she’d gained refused to tell her anything. “Sirius and Regulus… it was tough for them. Sirius missed him a lot during school, but he was terrified that Regulus was suddenly bigoted or hated him during and after our first year. They avoided each other after a big fight in our second year and then, slowly, they got into fights. Physical, never verbal because they were too stubborn to admit why they were each upset. And then we graduated and… I’m not sure if Sirius ever saw him again. He’s got a lot of regret and anger and hurt built up that I don’t think he’s ever worked through."

Cassiopeia looked away, eyeing the books in front of her sadly. “It just feels so important. I’ve never met him, not when I could remember. I just want to know.” 

“I think maybe only Walburga would know,” Remus told her regretfully. “We haven’t figured out how to remove her portrait yet, so you can try. I wouldn’t expect anything comforting. She knew her son as the man that would do anything to stay safe, even if it meant listening to her. She might not tell you things you want to hear or even things that are strictly true.”

“Who were his friends?” she asked softly. “His close friends?”

“Severus, actually,” Remus answered. “I think their friendship began because they both had a lot of anger toward Sirius, but it seemed to evolve. If you want to know who he really was, I’d ask him if you get the chance. These books won’t have anything for you.”

“They don’t,” she agreed bitterly. “They just tell me when he became a Death Eater, some of his crimes, and when he died. There are a few ideas on  _ why _ Voldemort suddenly wanted him dead but nothing solid.”

“No more throwing books at Harry,” Remus told her firmly. She blushed and nodded. “You’ve got good aim, Cassiopeia. You’re bound to give him a concussion.”

“He’s got a thick skull, he’ll be fine.”

* * *

**August 20th, 1994**

**Quidditch World Cup**

“Blaise, down!” 

Blaise dropped down just in time to miss the flying dagger and watch it dig into a Death Eater’s hip. The Death Eater froze and Blaise got up and grabbed it out, dropping it to the ground. It disappeared and, before the person could gather themselves, Blaise hit them with a stunner and bound them. 

The fight moved on throughout the fairgrounds. The kids, despite their age, were good fighters. Everyone stayed out of Cassiopeia’s way, mostly because her daggers were  _ dangerous _ and she was not slowing down with them. It was nearly an hour of fighting before Sirius, Remus, and Daniel reached them and helped them fight and protect them. Remus was slowly taking the kids away one by one until it was just Cassiopeia, Harry, and Draco left with them. 

The Death Eaters lit a fiendfyre in one of the tents and, when it began to spread, they gave up and were forced to retreat. Sirius knew how to fight it but refused to do so when he had two teenagers to keep safe, so they all returned to Greengrass Manor, where all of the other kids had been funneled to. 

“Daddy!” Astoria cried, rushing into his arms. Daphne did the same, and he grabbed them, confused. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” he promised. “Where’s your mother?”

“She- she didn’t make it,” Blaise said when both girls were unable to. “An elf took her upstairs to heal her but she’s- she didn’t.”

The few days following the attack were a mess. Sirius and Remus planned the funeral for Daniel and invited the family of three to stay with them for the time being. None of them wanted to be in the house without the strong woman that had loved and taken care of them.

School came sooner than expected and, despite being concerned over sending them there so soon, Daniel sent them to school once they promised they were okay. He saw them off at the station and left to continue taking care of the vaults and legal matters that came with the death of the Lady of a House. 

On the train, the friends all sat together and waited for Theo. He’d been unreachable for the last month of the summer, making them all sick with worry. When their compartment door finally opened, Cassiopeia shot up and wrapped him up in a tight hug, ignoring his fallen book.

“I’m okay,” he assured her gently, rubbing her back. “I’m okay. Are  _ you _ ?”

“ _ Me _ ?” she asked in surprise, pulling back to look him over. “I’m fine! But you weren’t there and then- then the attack, and Lady Greengrass and- was your father there?”

“He was,” Theo confirmed softly, taking her arm to push into the compartment. She shoved Draco out of the way and placed Theo down next to her, Blaise and Harry on her other side. Draco made a face at her and went to sit next to Astoria instead. “In fact, I think you hurt him.”

“I  _ did _ ?”

“He said someone threw a dagger into his side,” Theo explained, watching her. She winced. 

“I threw my daggers at a lot of people.”

“Could be the one you nearly hit me with,” Blaise suggested, laughing at her soft blush. “It’s really okay, Cas. You didn’t even hurt me.”

“She was scary,” Harry told Theo. “It’s like she’d already fought a million times. She’s really good at it.”

“Well, Father is okay, but he’s got a small limp now,” Theo explained. “I only knew it was going to happen the night of. Father wouldn’t let me warn you guys, he just said he’d try to keep everyone away from you. Obviously, he lied.” Theo paused, his eyes settling on the quiet girls across from him. “I’m really sorry. I wish I could have- I’m sorry."

“It’s okay,” Daphne gave him a weak smile. “It’s not your fault. Honestly, Mum was sick already. We hadn’t… told anyone, but she only had a few months left.”

“Tell me what I missed,” Theo requested. 

“Cassiopeia and Sirius sent my father to Azkaban,” Draco spoke up. “And killed Aunt Bellatrix.”

Theo waited for the rest of the story and when Draco didn’t offer it, he looked to Cassiopeia. “What does he mean, you killed his aunt?”

“Technically, we didn’t,” she defended. “Magic did. Sirius called Judgment on her and magic found her lacking, probably severely so, and it took her magic. She died. As for his father, apparently, he killed Orion. Not really sure how to process that one, honestly.”

“Merlin,” Theo shook his head. “Anything else?”

“Sirius sent Rabastan to Azkaban as well after forcing him to give the contents of his vaults to Lady Longbottom,” Harry grinned. “It was cool.”

“Can we discuss the bloody Tri-Wizard Tournament for a moment?” Draco requested. 

“Yeah, we didn’t have time to talk about it but  _ Merlin _ ,” Blaise shook his head with a short laugh. “At least we know what sorta shit is gonna go down this year.”

“It might not,” Cassiopeia defended, Harry nodding along with her. Everyone stared at them like they were stupid. 

“We’re used to it, Black,” Draco told her.

“You can’t- Black is your last name now, too,” she rolled her eyes. “Besides, it’s going to be seventeen and up and Harry’s fourteen.”

“I mean there’s the whole issue of Karkaroff being there,” Theo added with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, but he’s a Death Eater. Something’s happening.”

“But we don’t know what, so there’s no point focusing on it,” Draco told him. “Just get through the first few days with her like  _ that _ .”

Cassiopeia made a face at him. “Shouldn’t everyone know?”

“I mean… no,” Daphne answered her. “There’s muggleborns and half-bloods that might not have seen it, and it’s not like every student reads the paper. There’s a good chance a lot of people still don’t know.”

“ _ Great _ .”

* * *

Daphne was, apparently, right. Cassiopeia avoided the curious or confused gazes of many purebloods and some half-bloods. Even muggleborns seemed confused, probably wondering where Belle had gone and who she was. It was surprising how different she looked from the girl she’d been before. Her nose was a bit smaller, her jaw was sharper, and her cheekbones were more defined. She really did look like a completely different person, an obvious issue for her classmates. 

The whispers at the Slytherin table spread to the Ravenclaw table behind them and then Gryffindor, and finally Hufflepuff. It was obvious enough that Dumbledore interrupted his welcoming speech, easily able to identify the problem by Cassiopeia’s scowling face and the people staring openly at her. 

“Ah, I see you’ve all noticed Miss Black. I had hoped the news had spread quickly, or at least that the rumors wouldn’t begin until after my speech. No matter. Belle Potter was, as many of you know, adopted. Over the summer, Sirius Black came to find out that she was adopted from his father and was actually his sister, Cassiopeia. Whatever questions you have can be asked of her later on.”

Cassiopeia didn’t bother to resist openly glaring at her headmaster. She didn’t  _ want _ the entire school asking her questions. In fact, she had a great urge to hex whoever  _ did _ ask questions. Dumbledore moved on with his speech and introduced their DADA professor for that year when he had a rather dramatic entrance. 

The feast ended with no more interruptions and Cassiopeia took the Marauder’s Map and used it to sneak down to the dungeons and avoid the people walking around. She did not have the energy to deal with all of the questions, something no one blamed her for in the least. 

* * *

**September 9th, 1994**

**Slytherin Common Rooms**

“What’s a sexuality?”

Cassiopeia stared at Draco. “Are you… are you serious?”

“Yes?”

“Sexuality is who you’re attracted to. You’re attracted to women? Or men and women? Or just men?” 

“Just women,” Draco frowned. “Why would I be attracted to men?” 

“Some people are,” Cassiopeia explained. “Take me for example. I’m attracted to men, women, and anyone between.”

“What would be between men and women?”

“Non binary people. People who don’t identify with the binary gender roles. I don’t know if we know any here at Hogwarts.”

“But you’d date a woman?” Draco asked, amazed. She let out a short laugh. 

“I mean, yeah.”

“I’d date girls,” Astoria added. “I’m gonna ask Ginny to Hogsmeade next month.”

“It’s actually a lot more common than you think,” Cassiopeia told her shocked cousin. “I really think that if everyone was more educated on the LGBT+ community, they’d also identify as some part of it."

“What the hell is  _ that _ ?”

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and everyone else like asexual, which are people who don’t feel sexual attraction. They can and sometimes do have a sex drive, though. It doesn’t have anything to do with that. There’s also… let’s see, there’s aromantic, which are people who don’t feel romantic attraction but do feel sexual attraction. Or there are asexual and aromantic people who feel neither.”

“Merlin, there’s a lot,” Draco muttered, looking overwhelmed and confused. 

“I can’t believe you’ve never considered that someone can be gay or anything else than hetero,” Cassiopeia admitted. “Is it really not common here?”

“No,” Daphne told her. “You might wanna explain hetero before he gets confused again. He’s bound to explode.”

Cassiopeia let out a laugh and set into explaining that, too. 

* * *

**September 21st, 1994**

**Potions Classroom**

Snape grabbed the calming draught and handed it over gently, watching Cassiopeia’s silver eyes stare at the desk in front of her. She took the potion and downed it without question. It took longer than usual for her to calm down, but nearly ten minutes later, she had finally relaxed. 

“I didn’t intend for you to see that,” she said softly. “I should have realized it was possible and I should have… I don’t know. Stopped these sessions.”

“Leaving these memories unprotected will only damage you in the future,” he warned her gently. “I have seen plenty of horrible things, Cassiopeia. Do not concern yourself with me.”

When she spoke again, she shifted the conversation entirely, unwilling to dwell more on the memory he’d just seen. It was bad, but not even some of the worst, something that really spoke to what she’d been through. “Can you tell me about Regulus?”

Snape paused at the unexpected question. “He had an unfortunate life. I’m unsure if anything I can tell you will be comforting.”

“Sirius won’t tell me anything,” she said, biting her lip. “I know… Remus told me just a little, and I read about some of the things he did, but Remus said you were his friend. I feel like… I know I gained a brother, but I also lost one, and I don’t know why it’s bothering me so much but it is. I just want to know, Professor.”

Snape nodded shortly and sat back down across from her. It had been a long time since he’d spoken about his old friend, and it took a moment to remember things from before they’d become Death Eaters, the things that wouldn’t scare or upset her. 

“I don’t want to know lies,” she said before he could speak. “I just want to know… who he was. What he was like.”

“Very well,” Snape agreed. “I met Regulus in my second year of Hogwarts. He was… scared and very alone. In my third year, he told me about your mother and how she treated them. Regulus did as they told him to because he had this fantasy that someday, Sirius would save him from the life he was making for himself. Perhaps James Potter would save him. That never happened. In my sixth year, his fifth year, we both became Death Eaters. Nothing good happened after that. When you were born, it was horribly clear to everyone that his loyalty had shifted to you. He was threatened and more importantly,  _ you _ were threatened. It was a week later that he died.”

“Was he… kind?”

Snape considered the question. “To those he held closest. He was a Slytherin at heart, Miss Black. He protected himself first, something you should learn to do.”

“Regulus had reason to want to protect himself first,” she said softly, almost offhandedly. “I’ve always had someone else to focus on.”

“We cannot always protect you,” Snape told her seriously. “Something is coming, Miss Black. You should pay close attention. You are lucky to have gotten away from the World Cup uninjured.”

“Not all of us did, I know. I was protecting my friends and my family, Professor. Surely you can’t fault me for that.”

“I can, and I do. Protect yourself first.”

“You already know I won’t do that.”

“And that is the problem, isn’t it?”

* * *

“This is ridiculous,” Cassiopeia told the twins as she watched them bottle up the potion. “It’s not going to work.” 

“Oh yeah?” Fred said, grinning at her. 

“And why’s that, Black?” George questioned. 

“ _ Because _ Dumbledore is a very powerful wizard,” she explained. “And there are undoubtedly charms and spells on the Cup itself. I imagine it’ll see your magical core and not your physical age. You can’t trick it.” 

“That’s where you’re wrong,” George insisted as they entered the room to stare at the age line. 

“Just watch,” Fred agreed. The boys linked arms and tipped the potion back. Cassiopeia shook her head as she watched them jump over the line successfully and waited for what she knew was to come when they dropped their names into the blue fire. 

Just as she expected, the fire expanded and tossed them out of the circular area until they hit the ground, now with grey hair and beards to rival that of Dumbledore’s. They began fighting, and she walked over to them, putting up a shield in front of her to block a punch George threw at Fred that would’ve missed and hit her ankle. “The only reason my core was ever touched was because I was an infant.  _ You _ are two sixteen-year-old boys who think they’re smarter than our annoying but unfortunately brilliant headmaster.”

“Why are there two old men fighting?” 

Cassiopeia jumped at the voice behind her and turned to find Viktor Krum watching the twins curiously. She offered him a smile. “They thought a simple aging potion could trick the cup. I think they’ve gotten the punishment they deserve.”

“Ah, foolish,” he nodded, an amused grin on his face. Cassiopeia saw a tall man standing a little ways behind Krum watching them, but more specifically, her. He was glaring openly and she raised an eyebrow. Krum turned and spotted him. “Do you know each other?”

“Cassiopeia Black,” the man spat. “You should be dead.”

Cassiopeia tensed, her hand dropping down to her thigh in preparation to grab her dagger. “That’s what I’ve heard. Unfortunately for the Death Eaters and Voldemort, Orion was smarter than all of them.”

The man tensed, his eyes flashing angrily. “You were owed in return for your brother’s betrayal.”

Cassiopeia couldn’t help but be curious. “Betrayal?”

“He stole something from the Dark Lord,” the man answered her. “And so he died and you were meant to be taken as repayment.”

“Well, Voldemort obviously wasn’t smart enough to kidnap a three-month-old child, so I guess I’m not surprised he didn’t take over the wizarding world, either.”

“Oh, no.”

Cassiopeia didn’t bother looking when Theo put an arm around her and stared back at the man as Theo spoke. 

“Is there an issue, Mister Karkaroff?” Theo asked stiffly. “I’m sure Cassiopeia meant no offense.”

“Actually, I did,” she scowled, pushing his arm off of her. “I’m not sure what he’s trying to insinuate, Theo, but I don’t like it. My family, my continued existence, is none of his damn business.”

“Okay,” Theo said loudly. He put his hands on her shoulders and guided her out of the room, leaving behind Karkaroff and a very concerned Krum. Once they left the room, she shoved his hands away from her again. 

“I’m not helpless, Theo! There were plenty of people standing around watching us. I have my daggers, I have my wand, and we bloody well know I can fight. I don’t need you to save me from a Death Eater.” 

“That one you do,” Theo told her patiently. “He’s got a big grudge against your family after Bellatrix took his spot on Voldemort’s side. Then Regulus rose up in the ranks while he was stuck behind, and he was ordered to kill his wife, who was a half-blood from a family on the light. He’s a danger to you.”

“Well, he wasn’t doing anything,” she frowned. That time when he reached out, she let him pull her into a tight hug. “I’m sorry for worrying you but I promise I had it handled."

“If Snape hears that you confronted Karkaroff, he’s gonna lose his shit on you, Cas.”

“It’s not like he can give me detention for talking to Karkaroff,” she rolled her eyes. Theo’s own eyes widened slightly. “Theo, he can’t. And I know he’s my magical guardian, but that doesn’t mean he can ground me or something.”

“Actually, Miss Black, you might be surprised to find that I can do just that.”

“Ah, shit.”

* * *

**October 12th, 1994**

**Owlry**

Cassiopeia was walking up the slippery steps when she ran straight into Blaise.

“Ah, shit,” he whispered, grabbing her shoulders to steady her. “You okay?” 

“Yeah,” she assured him with a smile. “Are you? You’ve been… weird lately.” 

His eye roll almost made her take it back. 

“I’m fine, Cassiopeia,” he assured her, plucking her fallen letter from the steps. “You can use my owl. The school owls lose half of the letters they’re given.” 

“Thanks,” she smiled, following him into the large room where he called for his owl, Dodie. She watched him quietly as he gave the owl a treat. His hair was more wavy than messy now, and it surprised her. He’d also grown quite a bit over the summer, as had Theo and Draco, but Blaise had lost some of his baby fat and was slimmer and more attractive now. 

Her breath caught at her thoughts and, absently, she took a step back from her friend to stare at him with wide eyes. 

“Cassiopeia?” 

She blinked a few times and forced herself to smile. “Sorry, I’m- uh, a little tired, I think.” 

“Sure,” he scoffed. She knew that her friends knew when she was lying every time, and she cursed herself for it. Still, he offered her his arm and she took it, “Let’s head back to Slytherin.”

“Why?” she wondered, looking at him as they walked down the steps. She gripped his arm instead of the railing, using him to steady her. The steps always scared her as they were steep and somewhat slippery. He grabbed her hand, and she felt the back of her neck tingle at the touch, and she cursed herself softly. 

“Snape called a meeting,” he reminded her with a frown. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” she shook her head, pulling him to hurry down, unwilling to focus on the issue she only just realized she had. 

They made their way quietly from then on until they got to the common room, where she immediately separated from him, grabbing Daphne and Astoria and pulling them all the way across the room from the rest of their friends. 

* * *

“So what do you guys think is wrong with her?” 

Theo and Draco looked up at their friend in confusion.

“Who?”

“Cassiopeia,” Blaise said, looking at them like they were stupid. “She’s acting… weird.”

“No, she isn’t,” Draco disagreed.

“Yes, she is!” 

“She really isn’t,” Theo raised an eyebrow. “But you are.”

Blaise pursed his lips. He’d been much more serious since the past summer. Truthfully, it had been all of the events at the World Cup that had made him realize that while it was okay to not care sometimes and be focused on having fun, most of the time he needed to be serious, especially with the company he kept. 

“She was staring at me and acting  _ weird _ ,” he explained. “She could barely get a sentence out and tried her best to get away from me. She isn’t doing that with you guys?”

Theo and Draco exchanged a glance, and it was Draco that spoke. 

“Mate, she wouldn’t be acting like that around us.” 

“ _ Why _ ?”

“Because we’re not the ones she’s got a crush on.”

“Ah, fuck.”

* * *

Cassiopeia threw her head back, letting her hair fall off the side of the bed as she stared at Daphne, who was openly laughing at her. “Shut up.” 

“No, this is funny,” Astoria agreed with a grin. “You’re finally noticing boys."

“I noticed girls first,” Cassiopeia complained. “Why can’t I stick to that? None of the girls I had a crush on were one of my closest friends.” 

“Who did you have a crush on?” Astoria asked curiously. Cassiopeia glanced at the girl. 

“It’s not important.” 

“Because you’re lying,” Astoria accused. Cassiopeia glared, and the girl laughed. “Just tell us! You obviously have a crush on someone else now.” 

“No.” 

“It’s okay,” Daphne laughed. “I knew.” 

Cassiopeia gaped at her friend. “ _ What _ ? How? When?” 

Daphne grinned. “The crush only lasted for about a month before you started acting normal around me again. And the beginning of last year, obviously.” 

Cassiopeia let out a groan. “So does that mean he knows, too?” 

“Probably not,” Daphne hummed. “But Theo and Draco will probably figure it out and tell him, so I guess so, yeah.”

Cassiopeia flipped over and turned on the bed until she hit her pillow, shoving her face into it and letting out a frustrated scream.

* * *

**October 31st, 1994**

**Great Hall**

Hogwarts was forced to sit in two tables while the other schools took one table each. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Cassiopeia, Daphne, Astoria, Draco, Theo, and Blaise all sat together at the end farthest away from the middle of the room, where the cup had been sat. 

“If your name comes out of there, I’m going to be so fucking annoyed,” Cassiopeia hissed at Harry, who threw his hands up. 

“I didn’t put it in there!” 

“Oh, I believe you on that,” she assured him in a whisper. “But you have shit luck and I wouldn’t put it past your luck to put your name in there.” 

“Only an adult with an exceptionally powerful confondus charm could do it,” Theo told her, earning himself a glare. 

“Then let’s hope there are none of those adults around that want him in this stupid tournament.” 

The relief that flooded through her when the final champion, Cedric Diggory, was chosen was palpable. She clapped loudly despite the fact that she’d only met him once after he’d saved her from the dangerous gal the previous year, purely out of relief. 

Then, of course, it was ruined. 

The cup lit up again, this time red, and another piece of paper flew out of it and into Dumbledore’s hand. She squeezed Harry’s hand tight within her own, the seconds feeling like hours. 

“Harry Potter!” 

“ _ Goddamn it _ ,” she hissed as Harry got to his feet, confused, and paused. “Harry, go,” she instructed, shoving him forward. He stumbled as he made his way to Dumbledore, and the urge to take a very long nap overcame her. 

* * *

**November 1st, 1994**

**Potions Classroom**

Snape looked up as his door opened to find Cassiopeia step inside, looking irritated. 

“I’m sorry for being late,” she told him, dropping her bag to the floor next to the chair she sat in. 

“Twenty minutes,” he informed her. She nodded a little. 

“I know. Professor McGonagall was yelling at me. She gave me detention.” 

“Why?” 

“I hexed Draco.” 

Snape breathed in slowly and got to his feet. “Why?”

“Nothing important,” she muttered, still clearly annoyed. “He just wouldn’t leave me alone about something and I lost my temper. It won’t happen again.”

“And what was he bothering you about that seemed worthy of hexing him?” 

Cassiopeia waved at her eyes with one hand and he pursed his lips, nodding.

“You are sure?” 

“Yes, I consent,” she muttered the way she always did. He’d begun refusing to enter her mind without hearing the words after they’d had a small miscommunication that led to her having a panic attack. Snape muttered the words and met her eyes and they fell into the memory of her hexing her best friend. 

_ “Draco,” she said, her voice low and warning. “Leave it.”  _

_ “You won’t even talk to him,” Draco continued, earning himself a glare from her and a concerned look from Harry and Daphne. “You’re his friend! And a terrible Slytherin if you can’t just put your feelings aside to talk to him.” _

_ “There are no  _ feelings _ ,” she snapped, her hair beginning to spark. “I just need some time, okay? It’ll go away. Now shut up and focus on putting your things away or I’ll hex you.” _

_ Draco, apparently, didn’t believe her. “Right, the feelings are for Theo and the crush is on Blaise, got it.”  _

_ Cassiopeia’s eyes widened and she shot to her feet, her wand pointed at his throat. He stared at her with wide eyes and she hesitated before hexing him twice - one hex covered his legs and torso with a thick, hot, green goo, while the other hex grew his head until he looked like a bobblehead as it moved from side to side.  _

_ “Miss Black!” McGonagall gasped, rushing over. They had been putting their things away in Transfiguration, and she’d paused to hex him. “Detention for two weeks!” _

Cassiopeia sat with her arms crossed in front of her when Snape left her mind and he wanted to roll his eyes at her. Still, he had to admit that his godson seemed to have no sense of self-preservation around the testy witch, even when she’d warned him that he’d be hexed.

“Are you done?” he asked her, referring to her angry pout. She looked ready to hex him, but she just nodded and forced herself to relax, looking back up at him and waiting. He cast the spell again and she breathed in, letting them go wherever her mind wanted. 

_ The memory that came to them was a darker one. She was about eight and had dropped the pot holding their dinner on the floor. It had burned her, but the worst part was the mess she’d made and the fact that only her uncle was home and he’d been drinking since Petunia and Dudley weren’t going to return until the day after next as they were on a camping trip for Pier’s birthday. _

_ “ _ Bitch _ ,” Vernon hissed angrily as some of the soup hit his arm and burned him. She backed up hurriedly as he rushed toward her, but her back hit the counter painfully, allowing him to reach her. His meaty fingers wrapped around her neck tightly, surprising her. He squeezed tightly, screaming furious words at her that she couldn’t quite understand. _

“I need to go.” 

“What was that?” 

“I’m tired,” she said, not even bothering to pretend her lie was good. She moved to the door and knew he was following her. 

“Black-,”

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow-,”

“ _ Cassiopeia _ .”

She froze but refused to turn around. “I don’t want to see it or talk about it. Please.” 

“I won’t force you to,” he told her slowly. “But is there more of that?”

Cassiopeia hesitated. “Yes.”

And then, with that, she ran from the room.

* * *

**November 2nd, 1994**

**Slytherin Common Rooms**

“You can’t- you can’t avoid a teacher,” Theo frowned at her, squeezing her hand. “You have potions with him in three hours.” 

“I’m not going.” 

“Hiding from your problems is a legit answer,” Astoria told her. “But it won’t get you anywhere, so I suggest you take this time while you pout to come up with some sort of plan to confront him about whatever happened.” 

“It’s not- it isn’t the sort of thing I want to talk to anyone about,” she shrugged as Theo tugged her hair lightly, braiding one piece. “We were doing Occlumency lessons and he stumbled on something I didn’t want him to see.” 

“That’s the shitty thing about learning it when you’re older,” Daphne sighed. “You’ve got more shit you want to hide, but you can’t hide anything from your Occlumency instructor. That’s why they teach it so young, so that any trauma or anything you experience later in life, you don’t have to show to someone else.” 

“So you’re saying I have to show him literally everything inside my head?” 

“Only most of everything inside your head,” Astoria corrected. “Everything you wouldn’t want others to see. All the things that make you vulnerable, for example. Like your friendship with Draco or your crush on Blaise-,”

“I do not have a crush on Blaise-,”

“Those types of things can be used against you,” the younger girl finished. “So lock them up.”

“She’s right,” Theo agreed with a regretful smile. “I know it sucks having to show them to Snape but in the end, you’ll be much better off for it.” 

“So if I’m trying to lock up fifteen years of memories, how long would that take, do you think?” Cassiopeia wondered. The sisters exchanged a glance. 

“Maybe two or three years,” Daphne offered. “It depends on how much you resist, which right now sounds like a lot.” 

“You’re telling me that not only do I have to show Snape every nasty piece of my shitty life but also that it’s going to take me three years to do that?” she asked, staring between them. When they both shrugged, she threw her head back onto Theo’s lap, and he gave her a soft, sympathetic smile. 

* * *


	12. Dragons

**November 8th, 1994**

**Library**

Cassiopeia dropped her quill down and stared at her finished essay with satisfaction. It had taken her three days longer than she’d hoped with her friends bugging her every minute of the day. Eventually, she’d threatened everyone to stay away from her or be hexed. Having seen her hex Draco when he was bugging her about Blaise, they did the wise thing and left her alone. She picked up her book on family magic, something Sirius had given her after weeks of begging and began to read. 

Until she was interrupted after moments by someone coming to stand in front of her table. 

“Draco, I swear to  _ god _ -,”

“Not Draco,” the person said. She lowered her book in surprise to find Krum offering her a small smile. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry. He wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“I can come back another time,” he offered. She shook her head. 

“No, that’s alright. It’s only my friends I need a break from.”

“I hoped to apologize,” he explained. “For Karkaroff. I understand now your situation. He has a hard time letting go of the past, you see.”

“My friends explained to me what happened,” she sighed, waving for him to sit. He sat next to her and faced her, listening as she spoke. “Apparently, my brother was ordered to kill his wife. My family, in general, has pissed him off a lot. My friends and my brothers think that he might want to kill me to please Voldemort, so… I can see why they’re concerned.”

“He is being monitored by your Ministry,” Viktor assured her. “He was barely permitted entry to the country again.”

“I appreciate that, but I have almost no faith in our ministry,” she admitted with a small smile. “It’s okay. I can protect myself.”

“I will also protect you,” he said firmly, nodding once. Cassiopeia let out a small, quiet laugh.

“You don’t have to do that. I’ve got plenty of people looking out for me.”

“And one more won’t hurt, no?”

“I suppose not.”

“I will see you around the castle, Miss Black.”

“Oh, please, call me Cassiopeia,” she requested, making a face. “I’m still getting used to the last name.”

“Then please call me Viktor.”

Cassiopeia smiled. “Okay. Thank you for talking with me, Viktor. You’re very kind.”

“As are you.”

* * *

**November 11th, 1994**

**Hogwarts Grounds**

“He’s being a prat,” Cassiopeia told Harry as they and Theo made their way over to her friends, who sat by the large tree overlooking the Black Lake. “Just ignore him. He’ll get over it.”

“I don’t understand how he thinks you did it,” Theo commented as they settled in. “There was no way to cheat that thing. If your core is underage, then there’s no getting past the age line, no matter how old your body looks.”

“That’s why the twins failed,” Cassiopeia finished the explanation, smiling sweetly at Theo. “My core was only twisted because I was an infant, which means that an adult had to have put your name in the Goblet.” 

“Yes, but who?” Daphne wondered. “I’d say Karkaroff, but he’s constantly under watch by the British government. I think it’s someone we don’t expect.” 

“Viktor told me the same thing about Karkaroff, but I don’t know if I trust the Ministry enough to control him while he’s here.”

“You know, none of this makes me feel better about the fact that I have to fight  _ dragons _ ,” Harry muttered, staring at them.

“Well, that’s easy,” Blaise commented from the other side of the tree. “You’ve got a wand, you’ve got us as friends.”

There was a beat of silence before he corrected himself.

“You’re Cassiopeia’s brother and we adore her,” he said with a wink to the girl in question, who looked away to hide her blush. “So we’ll help.”

“You’re my friends too!” 

“Ignore him,” Astoria rolled her eyes. “He’s just trying to flirt with her. We really can help you.”

“How?” Harry frowned. Daphne laughed softly and rolled over to lie on her stomach. 

“We’re very resourceful, Harry,” she commented, and Cassiopeia was  _ certain _ her friend was flirting with Harry. “Leave it to us, and we’ll make sure you’ll get through it alive.”

“And if you  _ pay _ us, we’ll make sure you win, too,” Blaise laughed, dodging the slap Cassiopeia tried to give him with a wink.

* * *

**November 23rd, 1994**

**Library**

“Merlin, you’re good at avoiding people,” Astoria muttered as she and Ginny finally found Cassiopeia in the library. “Who is it this time? Blaise?” 

“I’m confused,” Cassiopeia muttered without looking up from the book she held in her arms. “I just want to understand what’s going on before I speak with him again.” 

“And that’ll happen by stuffing your nose in that book?” Ginny wondered, leaning over to read the title. “ _ The Fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort and Those He Took With Him _ . Huh. I didn’t realize they ever wrote a book like that.”

Cassiopeia nodded, finally looking up. “Sirius sent it to me. I just need to know more than Snape can tell me.” 

“Why’s this so important to you?” Astoria questioned. Cassiopeia paused. 

“He was my brother.”

“Yeah, sure, but this is near obsessive. Why does it matter so much?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, have you found anything?” Ginny wondered. 

Cassiopeia frowned. “This book is written by John Travers, the son of one of Voldemort's’ right hands - son of the one that tried to kill Harry. He was around everything quite a bit, I guess. He wrote about how Regulus joined because of our parents’ influence. When I was born, his allegiance clearly changed from Voldemort to me. Then one day, a prisoner was brought in and Voldemort handed them to Regulus. That was the last anyone saw of the prisoner and Regulus. He thinks Regulus, I don’t know, snapped and helped the prisoner escape or something.” 

“That makes no sense,” Astoria scoffed. “If he was truly that serious about you, then doing something like that would put you in extreme danger. It would possibly put you in the place of being taken by the Dark Lord since he lost Regulus.” 

“Yes, but get this,” she said, opening the book on her other side to the correct page and pointing at the right part. “Their death dates are so close. Regulus and Orion died on the same day. We know Orion died in a fire from Lucius, but not how or why Regulus died.” 

“It’s weird,” Ginny allowed. “Tell me again why this is important to you?” 

Cassiopeia shrugged, closing the Black Family Tree book. “I don’t know. I just can’t get it out of my mind. I just need to know more, to understand it more clearly. If I can’t know him, I want to understand.”

“Okay,” Ginny shrugged, getting to her feet along with Astoria. “We’ll leave you be but if you and Blaise don’t talk within the next two days, I’m going to hex you both and lock you in his dorm so you have no choice but to talk.” 

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes and waved off her friends, her eyes falling back on the book that had kept her attention for so long that day.

* * *

**November 24th, 1994**

**Quidditch Pitch**

“I’m literally going to have a heart attack,” Cassiopeia gasped, wincing as the dragon aimed another hit at a few rocks. “Is this a heart attack?” 

“Calm down,” Astoria laughed at her. “We’ve prepared him fine. He’s masked his scent, you taught him to disillusion himself, and we even got the dragon repelling charm from Ginny’s brother. He’ll be fine, lovely.” 

“He’s got horrid luck,” she mumbled, gripping Sirius and Draco’s hands within her own. “He’s going to get killed one of these days.” 

“Sure, but not today,” Blaise told her from his seat in the row behind her. His pat on her shoulder was not in the least comforting as the dragon blew some fire. 

“I’ll believe you when this is over.”

“I agree, this is fucking awful,” Sirius nodded, wincing when the dragon’s tail took out a rock near Harry. Still, Harry managed to sneak quietly around the angry dragon and reach the egg. When he had it, he wasted no time sprinting out of the pitch with the golden egg in hand. “Oh, thank fuck.”

“Harry Potter has gotten the egg in record time!”

“Shit, I don’t even care that he’s in first,” Cassiopeia admitted, ignoring Draco as he carefully peeled her fingers off of his hand. “He’s  _ alive _ .”

* * *

_ Slytherin harlot, Cassiopeia Black, was seen once more with multiple men. She embraced our hero, one Harry Potter, and was then defended by Quidditch player, Viktor Krum. All of this, and yet she still isn’t satisfied, frolicking around with Slytherins Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott Junior.  _

_ Where will it end, and who will stop her from breaking hearts? _

Cassiopeia lit the paper on fire and threw it to the floor.

She would  _ destroy _ Rita Skeeter. 

* * *

**November 25th, 1994**

**Slytherin Boys’ Dorms**

Apparently, Ginny had not been bluffing. 

Cassiopeia found herself being stunned and disillusioned in the library, and she pushed down the panic to replace it with anger as Draco and Ginny levitated her through the castle until they finally dropped her on the floor, undid their spells, and ran out of the room before she could hurt them. When she tried the door, she found it locked with a spell that  _ Alohomora  _ couldn’t undo.

“Fuck,” she hissed, throwing her hands up angrily. “God, I’m going to hex them.” 

“Love to see that.” 

Cassiopeia gasped and turned on her heel to see Blaise grinning at her, looking much too amused. She narrowed her eyes at him. “You encouraged this.” 

“You’re avoiding me.” 

“I’m focusing on other things,” she denied. Her hair began to spark, which only made his grin widen, much to her annoyance. “Will you let me out of here? I know it was you that set the wards.”

“Just talk to me.” 

“I thought you don’t like serious conversations,” she shot back. He shrugged a little, standing up to make his way over to her. 

“That was before you fought a horde of Death Eaters in front of me. You could have died.”

She couldn’t help but shift, avoiding his gaze. It was too intense for her, and she bit her lip as she stared out the window instead. “I’m okay.” 

“For now,” he allowed. “But you won’t always be. You weren’t last year. All the time I’ve known you, there hasn’t been a year I’ve not seen you injured.” 

Cassiopeia just shrugged lightly, but apparently, he didn’t like that. He slipped his fingers under her chin and ignored her gasp, pushing her face gently up until they made eye contact. 

“Stop avoiding me, Cassiopeia.” 

“Blaise-,”

“I’m going to kiss you now,” he whispered, startling her. Her eyes widened before she nodded once, and he leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers. With the touch, the tension in her shoulders left and she leaned in, wrapping her arms around him. He pulled away much too early and chuckled lowly at her small pout. “You are so bad at keeping secrets, Black.” 

“I don’t like keeping them from you guys,” she muttered, staring up at him as she bit her lip. “Kiss me again.” 

He grinned and did as she asked, leaning back down to press their lips softly together, relishing in her soft groan. 

* * *

“Do you think they’re really still arguing?” Draco rolled his eyes. “It’s been an hour.” 

“Sure,” Daphne let out a laugh, grinning at the boys. “Or they’re snogging.” 

Draco and Theo exchanged a panicked glance and scrambled to their feet to go pound on the door to the dorms. When it finally opened and they pushed their way in, Blaise was grinning shamelessly and Cassiopeia was blushing furiously, both of them with messy hair and chapped lips. 

“How long have you two been snogging for?” Theo asked with a startled laugh. Cassiopeia’s blush deepened, but Blaise answered easily. 

“Almost this entire time.” 

“For Merlin’s sake,” Draco rolled his eyes. “You two cannot snog every time you’re together. If you do, I’ll hex you both.” 

“Relax,” Blaise chuckled. “I haven’t even asked her to Hogsmeade yet. We’re not quite at the PDA phase, Draco.” 

“Oh, thank Merlin,” Cassiopeia breathed, relaxing. She’d tensed quickly at Draco’s suggestion, and Blaise laughed softly at her. 

“Cassiopeia, will you go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?” 

“Of course.”

* * *

**December 3rd,1994**

**Potions Classroom - Snape’s Chambers**

The pounding on the door woke the man and, once he’d put on his slippers, he swung the door open with a glare, one that fell when he spotted a panicked looking Daphne Greengrass. “What is it?”

“Cassiopeia was sleeping and I think she started having a nightmare or something, but she was… scratching at her legs and arms and stomach and  _ bleeding _ and- and I woke her but she’s so scared and I- I didn’t know what to do.”

“Who is with her now?” Snape asked, waving her down the stairs. He moved to his potions stores and grabbed a dreamless sleep, calming draught, and some dittany, just in case. 

“I got Astoria to come to sit with her,” Daphne explained as they left the room and made their way over to Slytherin. Snape cast some spell on the stairs that then allowed him to walk up them. Upon entering the dorm, it was clear that one of the girls had cast a privacy ward. Cassiopeia was crying but there was no sound. 

Snape waved Astoria away and walked over and kneeled down. She’d somehow fallen to the ground, and when he lit his wand up, he could already see bruises forming on her arms. “Miss Black.” 

Cassiopeia looked up at him, her eyes wide but unfocused. It was a look Snape recognized from the war, and he took in a slow breath. He’d completely missed something as obvious as PTSD, and he’d also brought the wrong potions to begin dealing with it. For a short term fix, however, they had to do. When he pressed the bottles in her hand, she looked down at them blankly as if she didn’t recognize them. 

“You need to take them,” he told her as gently as possible. With a short wave of his wand, he uncorked one for her and pushed it up to her mouth. She took over from there and carefully drank it down, looking dizzy. Once she was looking around, confused, he helped her to her feet and canceled the privacy charm. Both Greengrass girls were watching them in concern. “Go back to bed. I will ensure she is alright.”

“Professor, can I sleep here tonight?” Astoria asked, frowning at Cassiopeia. Snape nodded shortly, truthfully not caring at all. As the calming draught kicked in, he led Cassiopeia up the stairs and to the potions classroom. It took another ten minutes before she looked somewhat normal again. 

“How do you feel?”

“Calmer,” she replied after a moment. “I’m sorry. Daphne should never have gone to get you. I would’ve been fine.”

“You were hyperventilating,” he stared. “You would have passed out.”

Cassiopeia just shrugged a little.

“How long has this been going on for?”

It took her a moment to answer. “It got a lot worse after… last year. Now it’s every night. Usually, I put up some wards to let everyone rest and just deal with the nightmares, but I must’ve forgotten. We were up so late trying to figure out how to help Harry that I just fell asleep.”

“You cannot continue skipping Occlumency sessions,” he told her firmly. “It is damaging to your mind. You need the help.”

“I don’t need help,” she snapped. “I’m fine. I just need some sleep.”

“Miss Black-,”

“The only damn way you’re going to get me to do Occlumency is by doing what Dumbledore did and I know for a damn fact that you’d never do that. I just want to go to bed, Professor. I’m tired.”

“Take that potion,” he instructed, tense. She downed the dreamless sleep and looked up to find him waving her away, frustrated. She left without another word. She didn’t have the energy to fight with him anymore. She just wanted rest.

* * *

**December 4th, 1994**

**Hogwarts Grounds**

“He doesn’t deserve to be forgiven,” she huffed. “But that’s just my opinion.”

“Yeah, and one he doesn’t share,” Ginny reminded her. “Pretty sure he thought Draco should be exiled after he called you a bossy swot last year, but you’re still friends with him.” 

Cassiopeia frowned. “Why can’t we like all of each other’s friends?”

“You do,” Ginny laughed. “Just not Ron and Draco. Even then, Harry doesn’t have nearly as many issues with Draco as you do with Ron.” 

“He’s a prat.”

“Yep.”

“The rest of your family is nice, though,” she added. Ginny rolled her eyes. 

“Percy’s a prat, don’t forget about him. But you don’t know Charlie and Bill, do you?”

“I got letters from Bill last year when the twins thought I was going to work myself to death and I met Charlie this year when we found out about the dragons.”

“Mm, I miss them.”

“I can see why.”

“So, how’s it going with Blaise?” Ginny asked with a sudden grin. Cassiopeia rolled her eyes, but a blush crept up on her cheeks. 

“I’m looking at him a lot different than last year,” she admitted. “He’s… the same funny guy, but so thoughtful and kind, and…”

“So hot,” Ginny laughed as Cassiopeia shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, the World Cup really freaked him out. More than the rest of us, I think. He’s had a bit of a sheltered if odd upbringing from what Theo’s said and seeing you fight in such a dark way, ready to just get rid of every threat however you can… it scared him. Scared me when I heard about it. I think it shocked Astoria pretty bad, too.” 

“I just wanted to keep everyone safe.”

Ginny bumped her shoulder. “Has he asked you to the Yule Ball yet?” 

“I don’t even want to go,” Cassiopeia laughed. “Besides, we’ve had exactly one date.”

“I bet you’ll go together.” 

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes but refused to mention that she  _ did _ want to go with Blaise. 

* * *

**December 7th, 1994**

**Great Hall**

The Great Hall was, for the most part, empty. Study hall had ended and while everyone else left, Cassiopeia stayed there with a cup of tea and her book, one she’d gotten to read just for fun. She’d finished all of her homework for the week and was excited to get through the last half of the book. 

While the doors weren’t closed, the floors did make noise as footsteps echoed easily through the empty room, so when someone entered, Cassiopeia looked up sharply. Her heart sped up at the sight of Karkaroff walking toward her, wand in hand. She got to her feet, using her book to hide the movement of grabbing a dagger. 

“It is so very hard to find you alone,” he told her with a sneer. “Your friends are always around. Smart.”

“I don’t need my friends to protect me,” she told him with a glare. “Don’t try anything. You might not be afraid of kids my age, but my brother has a great deal of political pull.”

“I don’t care for your politics,” he spat, raising his wand at her. “I care to avenge my late wife.” 

“You sound like a bad tv villain,” she admitted. “I didn’t touch your wife. I never would. She was killed for shitty reasons. Whatever my brother did, he did it because he was stuck.”

“But he was so  _ good _ at it,” Karkaroff glared darkly. “He could torture with the best. I suppose that runs in your family, though. You look so much like her, you could probably torture as good as Bellatrix did.”

Cassiopeia’s grip tightened angrily on the dagger. He hadn’t spotted it yet, but he was still walking closer and he was too close for comfort. “I know he did shitty things. He was a Slytherin, but more than that, he was a Black. He did what it took to survive until he couldn’t.”

“It should not have come at the cost of my wife!” Karkaroff bellowed, throwing a curse at her. It dug into her thigh, making it bleed. She threw the dagger at him, feeling rather victorious when it dug itself into his shoulder. She grabbed the other one and let out a shout at the gouging curse at hit her just below the ribs. The dagger dropped to the ground and she staggered back, reaching for her wand instead of her daggers. She was barely able to use some of the blood already falling to put up a shield that came from blood magic, one that Sirius taught her and Harry after the World Cup. 

“Karkaroff!” Snape shouted furiously, rushing into the room. He waved his empty hand at the man silently and didn’t bother to watch him drop to the ground as he sped over to Cassiopeia. “Drop the shield.”

She nodded a little and focused on doing as he said, letting her wand drop from her hand. She was dizzy and lightheaded and the feeling of open air on her wounds was painful. He lowered her carefully to the ground and began healing, speaking to her all the while. 

“Stay awake,” he ordered her. He sounded almost  _ angry _ , so she did her best to listen while his hands moved over her wounds carefully. “This is deep, Black. You have to stay awake. You are losing blood too quickly.”

“It hurts,” she mumbled. It took much more effort than it should’ve, and she was awake enough to acknowledge that it certainly wasn’t a good thing how weak she was feeling. She wasn’t lying, though. Both injuries stung far more than any other injury she’d felt had stung like there was something ripping her apart slowly. “Hurts more.”

Snape looked at her for a moment, thankfully understanding the gist of what she was saying: something was wrong. It led him to cast deeper diagnostic spells and, upon seeing the results, he sent a Patronus to Sirius Black. Once the doe had run off, he focused back on trying to keep her from just bleeding out before she could be healed. 

It was only a couple of minutes later when Sirius ran into the Great Hall, dropping to his knees when he reached them. He’d obviously caught sight of Karkaroff if the fury in his eyes said anything. “What spell?”

“I am unsure,” Snape muttered, most of his attention on holding the very difficult stasis charm he’d set on the injury. “All it told me is that it is dark magic.”

Sirius made a face and waved his own wand over her as she reached over to grab his hand. He squeezed hers gently and focused on the magic. When the results came, he stilled. “How did Reg kill his wife?”

“What the hell does that have to do with her? Focus!”

“Answer me!” 

“He was ordered to cut her open and poison her magic so that she bled out quicker.”

“Poison it  _ how _ ?”

“ _ Venenum Magicae _ ,” Snape answered a moment later when he finally remembered. He paused. “He didn’t-,”

“ _ Patet Magicae _ ,” Sirius whispered, waving his now empty hands over his sister softly. He focused first on the areas where she’d been hit, something that allowed Snape to finally heal them properly. After that, Snape got to his feet and left to find Madame Pomfrey. Sirius continued on softly, healing her damaged magic. Since he’d gotten there so soon, it took barely a few minutes to clean it out completely.

“Mm… head hurts,” Cassiopeia muttered almost immediately when he finished cleaning out her magic. “It  _ hurts _ .”

“You were just poisoned,” Sirius reasoned, smiling at her in relief. “I think just a headache and a couple of scars is a good trade for your life.”

“ _ Poisoned _ ?” she asked, sitting up a little too fast. He grabbed her gently and guided her down to rest her head in his lap. “Sirius? I don’t- what happened? Why are you here?”

“You fought another Death Eater,” he told her, glancing at the spot Karkaroff had been in. It seemed that, while they were so focused on healing her, he’d gotten up and ran away. “You promised me you wouldn’t do that, kitten.”

“I don’t remember-,” she frowned. “Karkaroff?”

“Yep.”

“He told me… he said some things about Regulus and Bellatrix and then attacked me. I think I managed to hit him with my dagger, though.”

“Good, fucker deserves it,” Sirius muttered. She grabbed onto the bench behind them and pulled herself to sit up slowly. “Maybe you should come home. Moony could homeschool you!"

“No,” Cassiopeia laughed. “I’ll be okay. If it helps… I won’t go anywhere alone, okay?”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

“Fine, but if you get into trouble, let me know right away.” 

Cassiopeia set her head on his shoulder and nodded quietly. She wasn’t sure what she was going to tell her friends, but it certainly wasn’t that she’d fought another Death Eater, this time while in school where they were supposed to be safe. No, she’d make something up that they’d believe. She didn’t need them worrying.

* * *

**December 10th, 1994**

**Wizengamot**

Cassiopeia sat at Sirius’s side as she had been doing the past few months, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the session to start again. They’d held the trial for Lucius at the beginning of the meeting, it having been pushed off as his allies tried to get him released. Regardless of their attempts, he’d been sent to Azkaban for five years. It wasn’t nearly as long as anyone hoped, but it was something. 

On her other side was Daniel Greengrass, who sat in the Greengrass seat. On the other side of him was the Potter seat, which was empty, though glowing to signify a regent in the room. He’d been chatting quietly to her and Sirius for the last few minutes, only quieting at that moment as Dumbledore and Penbrook entered and took their places. As he’d done every session, Dumbledore scanned the family area to see if Cassiopeia was still there. When he spotted her, he offered her one of his fake, typical smiles and called the meeting to order. 

“First on the agenda is the Black family - this announcement is with the Potter family and the Greengrass family.”

Daniel, Sirius, and Cassiopeia got to their feet when he nodded at them. As planned, Daniel took charge. “The Potter Alliance is officially back together with all of its old members and the addition of the Black family and a few members that aren’t Ancient and Noble.”

“I do confirm this,” Sirius spoke up. Dumbledore looked to every member of the old alliance and was disgruntled to find that Daniel had been telling the truth - the Alliance was truly back together, but now with the extremely powerful addition of the Black family. 

“And where is your Alliance aligned?” Dumbledore questioned with what they could all tell was a nervous smile. 

“We are neither Light nor Dark, just as before,” Daniel told him. “We are the Grey Alliance if you do not remember.”

“You can’t do that!” Dolohov shouted angrily, glaring at Sirius and Cassiopeia. “The House of Black has  _ always _ been aligned with the Dark.”

“I can bloody well do whatever I want with my House,” Sirius shot back, grabbing Cassiopeia’s arm protectively at the dark look she was getting. “And if you don’t stop looking at my heir like that, I’ll fucking duel you.”

“It’s fine,” Cassiopeia muttered, pushing his hand off of her arm.

“This must be because Greengrass got to her before she knew who she was,” Travers accused. 

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. “Lord Greengrass had nothing to do with the lack of bigotry in me. If I’d grown up with my birth parents, yes, I probably would be a bigoted asshole like you. Maybe I’d try to push seven-year-old kids in front of a bus like you, too. Luckily, I’m not like you.”

“That is a horrible accusation,” Amelia spoke up from her family seat. “Did that truly happen?”

“Lies!” Travers spat at her. She narrowed her eyes. 

“You don’t remember trying to murder my brother? I bet Bellatrix remembered trying to murder me.”

“And then you had her killed,” he shot back. “You’re not so innocent, are you?”

“ _ Magic _ decided she was lacking,” she reminded him sharply, speaking over whatever Sirius tried to say to calm the situation. “It’s an old but very legal form of family magic, Travers. We asked magic to judge her actions and it decided she was lacking, so it took her magic. She died.”

“She was in Azkaban,” Dumbledore cut in. “She could not have hurt anyone there, Miss Black.”

“Oh, Merlin,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “She did permanent damage to the House of Longbottom,  _ tortured _ the heir of her own House, tortured her damn sister for marrying and having a child with a muggleborn man, and taught my own damn brother how to torture! She never listened to Arcturus and never listened to me, despite the fact that since I was heir, she should have listened to me until Arcturus said otherwise. She’s killed more than I know of, tortured more than I know of, and I’m pretty sure she was in love in Voldemort?”

At least five people screamed when he said Voldemort’s name, causing the commotion to continue. 

“May I remind you not to swear in the Wizengamot,” Penbrook reminded everyone tiredly. 

“Sometimes cursing is necessary!” Lady Marchbanks called out. “Sometimes nothing else is good enough!” 

Large, loud red sparks resembling fireworks erupted and flew into the air. It was a good way to quiet everyone, and once there was no sound in the room, Dumbledore nodded. “Thank you. I do acknowledge the reformation of the Potter Alliance. I suggest you all get used to the political shift quickly. It does not seem they are willing to wait for us to catch up.”

“Not at all.”

* * *

**December 13th, 1994**

**Slytherin Boys’ Dorms**

Cassiopeia settled down on Theo’s bed, exhausted. “My name isn’t that hard to say, is it?” 

“Krum again?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you wanna hang out with him?” he laughed. “He can’t even say your name.” 

“Because he is incredibly starved for intelligent conversation, and I’m apparently the only girl that can actually speak to him without staring at his… him.”

Theo chuckled at her. “Be careful or he might get a crush.”

Cassiopeia glared at him. “That is not funny, Theo.”

* * *

**December 15th, 1994**

**Potions Classroom**

Cassiopeia sat in Snape’s office on a chair with her legs pulled to her chest and her arms around her knees. She’d have gone to Madam Pomfrey, but Snape was closer, and he didn’t have class at the moment, and so she didn’t have to be seen. 

She wiped at her tears furiously as she waited for her Head of House to arrive and berated herself for crying at all. It was an emotional response and one that she hated having. She’d learned a lot about how to act while in Slytherin, and crying was one thing you just weren’t supposed to do, not unless you were with someone you trusted. 

Which, she realized as Snape walked in, she was. She trusted him, which she supposed was the reason she’d gone to him. He froze upon seeing her for barely a moment before he moved closer and saw the problem. 

“Black, who did this?” 

“Ron,” she mumbled uncomfortably. Without asking, Snape pointed his wand at her and shrunk her horribly grown teeth down, even farther than before, something she was grateful for. He placed his wand back in his robes and sat at his desk. 

“What happened?”

“Ron and I got in a fight, and… he’d heard me tell Harry that I hated my teeth, so I guess he figured it would be funny to grow them? And he did that and hit me with a small cutting hex, and-,”

“Where?” Snape interrupted, eyes dark as he stared at her. She shifted and stood up so he could see her torn shirt and bleeding side. “Why didn’t you mention this before? This is deep.”

“It doesn’t hurt much,” she shrugged as he ran his wand over the cut and retrieved a potion. She took it without asking what it was, and he relaxed slightly before looking at her sternly. 

“You have no sense of self-preservation,” he accused. “How you got in my House, I’ll never know.” 

“I’m okay,” she muttered quietly. “He didn’t get me that bad.” 

“Did you curse him back?”

“I just tried to shield the first years behind me,” she admitted. “No point in cursing back.” 

He looked horribly torn as he struggled to respond. “Please stay out of trouble.”

“I’m trying,” she sighed. “I really am, Professor.” 

* * *

**December 16th, 1994**

**Library**

Cassiopeia chewed on her lip nervously as she read over her essay, rather unhappy with it. She was tapping her quill against the table, having spelled the ink back into the nearby pot. When she reached the end of the essay, she let out a sigh and leaned back, running her fingers through her soft curls. 

“Would you like me to look over it?” Viktor asked, smiling at her, slightly amused. They’d spent more time since the attack from Karkaroff together, and he’d quickly noticed how obsessive she was over ensuring her schoolwork was perfect. He was a couple of years older than her, but he liked her and he enjoyed helping her. Aside from that, she could keep up with him on topics that she shouldn’t even know about yet, so he was certainly not sacrificing anything by spending time with her. 

“Please,” she nodded. He took it from her curiously and read it over. It was a perfect ten paragraphs and he could find nothing wrong with it. After reading it twice and scanning it twice more, he set it down in front of her again. 

“It is perfect,” he assured her. “You have a talent for writing.”

“I just want everything to be clear,” she shrugged. She looked it over once more, biting her lip, before she nodded and put it away. If she kept it out, she’d just obsess over it more. She put the rest of her things away and got to her feet. “I should probably get back. I promised Theo I’d be back by nine and I’ve got a few things to do first.”

Viktor nodded and got up as well, pushing both of their chairs in. “I was hoping to ask you something.”

Distracted with shoving her book in her bag, she nodded. “Sure.”

“Would you like to go to the ball with me?”

Cassiopeia forced herself not to freeze and to just look up instead. She offered him a small smile. “You’re a very kind person and a good friend, but I actually already have a date. I’m sorry, Viktor.”

He smiled back, just as brightly as always. “That is perfectly alright. I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“No, not at all,” she lied, grateful that he couldn’t tell. “I do have to go, though. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” he confirmed. With one last smile to him, she threw her bag over her shoulder, gripping her book, and sped out of the library. 

* * *

Blaise looked up as the door opened and his girlfriend rushed in, panic on her face. He raised an eyebrow as she threw herself into the seat next to him. 

“Take me to the Yule Ball?” 

He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. 

“Excuse me?” 

“Please, I want to go with you, I do, and I was going to wait for you to ask but Viktor asked me and I told him I was already going with you and  _ please, I really don’t want to go with someone that can’t even say my name _ .”

Blaise’s lips twitched and he leaned forward to press a light kiss to her forehead, grinning as she relaxed almost immediately. “I was going to ask you tonight, actually. Yes, we can go to the ball together. I reckon it’d be a bit awkward for our relationship if we went with other people.” 

“Oh, thank  _ god _ ,” she breathed, leaning forward to press a long, thankful kiss to his lips. “What would I do without you?” 

“Be miserable,” he laughed with a cheeky grin, surprised when she got a little serious. 

“I think I might just.”

* * *


	13. Final Task

**December 25th, 1994**

**Great Hall**

Cassiopeia watched Ron sit next to Parvati Patil and rolled her eyes. She was sitting at a table with her Slytherin friends and Harry. Astoria had gone with Draco, to no one’s surprise, while Daphne had asked Harry, much to his surprise. Theo had asked Luna Lovegood, who had agreed with a soft smile. They were an odd couple, but cute. 

“Why on earth is he being an arse this time?” she asked Harry from across the table, where she sat next to Blaise. Harry let out such an exhausted sigh that she almost laughed. 

“Apparently, he wanted to ask you as he hadn’t gotten word of your relationship and he assumed you wouldn’t have found anyone to go with.” 

“That prat!” she huffed, leaning back against Blaise as he laughed lightly. “We hate each other! Why would I  _ ever _ have gone with him?” 

“He said - please remember I don’t think this and I love you and respect you - he said that you’d be so desperate you’d want to go with him.” 

“You can hex him later,” Blaise muttered to her. “Take a deep breath. He’s miserable over there while you’re here with… me,” he whispered, his breath tickling her neck. She shivered and felt the anger dissipate as his fingers trailed up and down her arm. 

“That’s gross,” Harry muttered. Daphne laughed at him. 

“Yeah, well, you don’t spend much time in Slytherin, where they’re very fond of PDA. Cassiopeia was so against it until it was with him.”

“Gross,” Harry repeated, making a face. “She’s my sister and- hey! Get off her neck!” 

Cassiopeia let out a laugh along with Blaise as they turned to look at him. She glanced back at her boyfriend. “I don’t think Harry likes this, maybe we should leave.”

“Wait, no,  _ that’s not what I meant _ -,”

“Wonderful idea,” Blaise agreed with a grin. He offered her his arm and helped her to her feet, leading her out of the hall and down to the dungeons, where the two let out laughs and sat on the couch in the common room together. “He’s going to have a muggle heart attack.”

Cassiopeia kicked off her heels and leaned into him. “Serves him right, not defending me to Ronald.” 

* * *

**December 27th, 1994**

**Potter Manor**

“I really don’t think this is necessary,” Cassiopeia told Remus as Harry stared at the locked chest nervously. “Can’t we get a real one? We’ve got a shit ton of money, Moony.”

“We are  _ not _ buying a dementor,” he looked at her seriously. “We don’t need one.”

“Then we can rent one!” 

“We’re not renting a dementor, either.”

“Ah, she’s finally thinking of ridiculous ways to waste all this money, huh?” Sirius asked with a proud grin as he entered the room. “I’ve never been so proud to call you my sister.”

“I’ve been your sister for less than a year,” she reminded him. “I just don’t want to make Harry see the dementor.”

“They fuck you up too, don’t they?” Sirius asked. “Are you sure it won’t be-,”

“It won’t,” she said firmly. “I know it won’t. I’m not getting in front of a boggart for anything.”

“Okay,” he put his hands up. “No boggart for you. Look, mine would probably be a dementor. I’ll do it.”

“Can’t we teach me this stupid spell without a boggart-dementor?”

“We can try,” Remus told her slowly. “But it’s a lot harder to cast in front of an actual dementor.”

“You’re not even teaching me to ward off dementors, just for communication,” she reminded him. “So it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“I suppose not,” Remus agreed. “Okay. You know what to do, it’s just a matter of doing it. Go ahead and try.”

Cassiopeia raised her wand and stood straight, her eyes closed. “ _ Expectro Patronum _ !” When she opened her eyes, she found a silvery mist covering the room. Sirius and Remus were staring at it in wonder and Harry in confusion, the same as her. 

“Er- is that supposed to happen?” Harry asked, goosebumps running down his arms and neck. The mist looked like a thick fog covering the entire room. 

“No,” Remus answered after a silent moment. 

“This is  _ thick _ ,” Sirius laughed, amazed. He waved his hand through it, watching as it displaced but didn’t destroy the magical mist. “What were you thinking of when you did it? Not the memory, but about the spell?"

“I was thinking about how Harry told me it went for him,” she shrugged, holding the spell for them to look at. It was a hard spell to hold, but it didn’t feel impossible. “He said the mist came first and then after a few tries, he got his corporeal form.”

“This time, I want you to think of the form Harry got in the end,” Remus told her. “You can drop it.”

“That’s another thing,” Sirius said, walking over to her. He touched her forehead curiously. “You held that for a while, Kitten. You’re not tired?”

“No,” she shrugged, pushing his hand away. 

“Have you ever tried to see how long you can hold any specific spell for?” Remus asked her, intrigued. 

“No, not really. Should I have?”

“The patronus was really draining for me at first,” Harry told her. “I had a bad headache and I felt like sleeping for a week.”

“Let’s try for the corporeal form,” Remus suggested. Cassiopeia nodded and readied herself. 

“Expecto Patronum!” A fennec fox jumped out of her wand and walked in a circle around her, nudging her with its nose. 

“Is that a  _ fox _ ?” Sirius asked with a grin. “If her Patronus is a fox, do you think her animagus form is a fox, too?”

“We’re not going to find out,” Remus said sternly. 

“But I actually really want to,” Cassiopeia spoke up, focusing mainly on keeping the patronus up. “If we don’t register me, it could really come in handy. I’m obviously in danger at school.”

“So we pull you from school, we don’t teach you to become an animagus.”

She glared at the man. “You guys can help me or I can do it by myself. Your choice.”

“Sirius, tell her,” Remus requested. 

“Moony, it’s not like she’s doing it for the same reasons we did,” Sirius reminded his friend. “She’s doing it because she’s in danger. It’s okay with me. She’ll get it done way quicker than we did with my help.”

Remus looked at her in concern. “Promise me you will never try to join us on the full moon.”

“I promise.”

“Cool!” Harry grinned. “Me too!”

“Let’s get started then,” Sirius smiled brightly. “You’ve only got a few days here until school starts again.”

* * *

**February 19th, 1995**

**Potions Classroom**

“It is reckless!” 

“It’s smart! No one will expect it!” 

“You could be arrested!” 

Cassiopeia scoffed and crossed her arms. “They wouldn’t dare.”

Snape glared at her, putting his hands down on his desk in front of him. Their Occlumency session had ended abruptly when he’d stumbled upon a memory of her and Harry practicing their animagus meditation together with Sirius. “I told you to be careful, Black.”

“I am. This is me trying to protect myself. I don’t understand why you don’t see this as a good thing.”

“Animagus forms can be used for terrible things when unregistered. When the person is too immature to be an animagus.”

Cassiopeia suddenly understood. “I’m not my bloody brother, Professor. I’m not as stupid as he was.”

“I happen to disagree.”

When her hair began to spark, she grabbed her bag and got up. “I’ll see you in class, then.” He nodded sharply and she slammed the door shut behind her. She was about to leave when she caught sight of the potions storeroom at the back of the classroom. With an angry smirk, she made her way over and pulled out five galleons, replacing the gillyweed with the galleons. Only then did she head back to her common rooms.

* * *

“Cas, why is Snape glaring at me?” Harry wondered, pushing her over. She was lying on his bed, her Patronus running around the room. She’d been there since returning to Slytherin, and Draco, Theo, and Blaise were all there, too. “He gave me a death glare when we passed in the halls.”

“We had a disagreement,” she muttered. 

“Is  _ that _ why you haven’t spoken?” Draco asked her. He was sitting on his own bed, which happened to be next to Harry’s, and he’d tried speaking to her multiple times since she’d gotten there, the same as Theo and Blaise. 

“He seems to think I’m as stupid as Sirius was at sixteen,” she explained, glaring at her hands. The Patronus failed with her dropping mood, slipping away into nothing. “I’m not, and he can’t get that through his thick skull. I would  _ never _ make the mistakes Sirius made! And it’s like he’s forgetting his part in the entire thing. Of course, that doesn’t excuse what Sirius did, but he fucked up, too! And I wasn’t even born yet! He has no right to compare me to my stupid brother!” 

“I’m so glad she has another brother to say that about now,” Harry sighed, pulling her into a hug. “What are you  _ talking _ about? What happened?”

She hesitated. “It isn’t my place to say. I only found out because Dumbledore tried to get me to turn on Sirius right before the trial.”

“What he said in the hall,” Theo gasped. “It was true?”

Cassiopeia nodded. “But he painted the situation wrong. Sirius fucked up, sure, but… I understand it now. If I’m being honest, I don’t understand why Remus ever forgave him, but… it’s not my place. It was a long time ago. And I am  _ not _ Sirius, so Snape has no fucking place calling me immature!”

“You’re not immature,” Blaise agreed. “But you’re not going to change his mind about whatever went down with him and Sirius by ranting about it to us. Maybe it would help to sit them down together.”

“They’d never agree to it,” she scoffed. 

“Sirius would,” Harry disagreed, nudging her. “If he knew it was this important to you. Really, Cas, he’d do just about anything for you. Maybe you didn’t see it, but as soon as you came to live with us and were… you, it was like everything about him changed. You were a miracle, something he got back. So he’d do a lot for you. Probably even talk to Snape."

“But Snape wouldn’t,” she shook her head. “It’s useless.”

“Lupin,” Draco spoke up. “Use Lupin.”

“But he was against this, to begin with,” she admitted. “He fought until we promised we’d never join him during the full moon.”

“He’d do it,” Harry waved her off. “If he knew Snape was giving us shit over it, he’d do it.”

“Okay,” she frowned. “I’ll ask him.”

“Good. Are you done pouting now?” Draco asked. She threw Harry’s snitch at him, happy to see it hit his forehead. 

“Oh, Harry! I got you gillyweed.”

“Really?” he asked, shocked. “I thought there was some crazy backorder on it.”

“Yep,” she agreed, pulling it out of her pocket. “That’s if you don’t get pissed at your potions professor and take it from his stores.”

“Cassie!” Theo exclaimed, horrified. 

“Don’t worry, I left him five galleons,” she waved him off, handing the plant to her brother. “That’s three more than it costs.”

“He’s going to know you did it,” Blaise laughed. “He’ll give you detention.”

Cassiopeia shrugged. “That’s a problem for later. I felt a lot better after taking it.”

“You’re insane, Black,” Draco shook his head. “He’s going to lose it on you one of these days.”

“He’s more likely to lose it on her the next time she gets hurt rather than for taking gillyweed,” Theo disagreed. “She’ll be fine.”

* * *

**February 23rd, 1995**

**Dungeons**

Daphne knocked on the door to the boys’ dorm, tapping her foot. It opened to reveal three tired, confused, and vaguely annoyed boys. She pushed her way in and moved over to Blaise’s bed, shoving the blanket off of him. 

“The fuck, Greengrass?” he shouted, pulling the blanket back over him. 

“She isn’t in here?” she asked with a frown. She’d been so certain. 

“ _ Who _ ?” Blaise asked. 

“Cassiopeia, dumbass,” Draco rolled his eyes. “No, she isn’t here. Why?”

“She’s missing,” Daphne huffed. “She went to go over the plan with Harry and Neville one more time, but she didn’t come back by curfew, and we can’t find her anywhere.” 

“She said she was going to the bathroom and heading back,” Harry frowned in concern. 

“Ask Snape,” Blaise said, getting out of bed. He glanced back at his friends. “I’m going to go with her. If we can’t find her, I’ll wake you up again.” 

“Good, fuck off and find your girlfriend,” Draco muttered, getting back into bed. Blaise and Daphne both rolled their eyes and made their way out of the dorm room, rushing through the common room. Harry rushed after them and split off to check the library again, leaving the pair alone. 

“When did she leave?” Blaise asked as they made their way to the Potions room, where they knew Snape’s living quarters were connected to. 

“Around nine,” Daphne muttered. “She said she’d be back in an hour.” 

When they reached the potions classroom, they knocked on the door to his quarters and waited before knocking again. Just before they were going to knock a third time, the door opened to reveal a rather angry Snape who stood in his pajamas, glaring down at them. 

“You both had better hope you have a  _ very _ good reason for waking me.” 

“Cassiopeia’s missing,” Daphne exclaimed. Snape sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. 

“Miss Black has been chosen to participate in the next task. She is fine and will be returned to you tomorrow.” 

“Wait, why was she chosen?” Blaise asked before he could slam the door. Snape frowned at him. 

“It seems that she is the most precious person in Viktor Krum’s life that we had access to here at Hogwarts.”

And then he slammed his door shut, leaving them to make their way back to Slytherin, both a little concerned despite his assurances.

* * *

**February 24th, 1995**

**Black Lake**

Cassiopeia was  _ very _ bitter. Bitter and cold. Bitter, cold, and annoyed, because her friends were laughing at her as they cast warming charms on her and hugged her. 

“This is your own fault,” Daphne laughed, and Ginny just nodded along with her. “You insisted upon being his friend.” 

“I didn’t mean to… ugh!” she shook her head, annoyed. “I’m fucking cold.” 

“Snape sent this for you,” Theo told her as he moved over to her, pulling a vial from his robes. She breathed out in relief and drank it down immediately, trusting the man. Just as she’d expected, it tasted of chicken soup and warmed her completely. Her clothes had already been dried, and so as soon as she was warmed by the potion and a thick blanket was placed over her, she felt leagues better. 

“Thank god,” she muttered. “How’s it going?” 

“Krum finished first,” Draco told her. He was sat to her side with his legs underneath him and had been purely annoyed by her fit over being cold. “Delacour didn’t finish - the grindylows got to her. Diggory and Potter are left.” 

“Great,” Cassiopeia muttered, leaning against Theo. “Where’s Snape?”

“He left when you popped up,” he told her. “Just gave me the potion and left. Why?”

“I need another potion,” she answered, getting to her feet. Blaise did as well and she shook her head quickly. “No, I need to go alone.”

“Cas, you’re still shaking,” he reminded her. “Let me come.”

“No,” she snapped. “I’m going alone.”

“Just leave it,” Draco suggested, grabbing his friend’s arm. “You know how she gets when she’s in this mood.”

“Come see us later,” Blaise requested after a moment. 

“I’m coming right back after I get it,” she promised. When he nodded, she hurried away, leaving them to watch the still water together. It was a bit of a walk to the castle, but she walked as fast as she could to the potions classroom. Relief flooded her upon seeing Snape sitting at his desk grading essays. “Professor.”

“Miss Black,” he greeted, not bothering to look up. “Shouldn’t you be watching for your brother?” 

“I’ll go back,” she waved him off. “I need a potion.”

“I left a warming potion,” he looked up finally to catch the anxiety on her face. “What is it?”

“You know those potions you gave me this past summer? I need more of them.”

Snape met her eyes, his own widening just a little. “When?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she shook her head with a deep frown. “Recently. Recent enough to take the potions. Do you have them?”

He waved his hand in the air and caught the potions when they flew to him. He grabbed a cup and measured some out for her, and she took it immediately. She took the entirety of the other one, and he tossed out the bottle when it was empty. “Did you cast the spells?”

“Right after,” she assured him. She was shifting nervously on her feet and tapping her hand against her leg. 

“We will discuss this another time,” he told her after a moment of consideration. “If there is nothing else, you may go.”

Cassiopeia sped from the room with a quick nod, grateful. She’d been worried he’d force her to discuss it, but instead, she’d just been reminded of why she trusted him so much.

* * *

Cassiopeia was laughing as Blaise carried her on his back through the forest, their friends - including Harry and, unfortunately, Ron - all ahead of them. Hagrid was walking them through to celebrate and was somewhat drunk, she knew. She would admit to also having taken a drink of firewhiskey or two before leaving the castle, which was the reason for her spot on Blaise’s shoulders. 

Her laughter died out as she saw ahead of them. “What’s that?” 

Harry ran forward, and she couldn’t quite see him, but she could hear him. “It’s Crouch… he’s dead.”

* * *

_ Our favorite harlot is at it again, this time seen by many bystanders with Draco Malfoy after being rescued from the Black Lake by Viktor Krum. Where is her gratefulness? Does she not understand that she would’ve died down there? How does Viktor Krum or Blaise Zabini feel about these new developments? Or Theo Nott? _

_ As always, her reckless actions continue to break the hearts of those around her. If only her parents could control her.  _

Cassiopeia stared at the words on the page, a wave of horrible anger growing within her. She’d found out months ago - with help from Draco - that Rita was an unregistered animagus, and she knew what she had to do now. 

* * *

_ Sirius, _

_ Why would Moody assume you’d listen to him? I know you trained under him but you’re a free man and a lot stronger than you were when I found you. Anyone looking to hurt you would be disappointed. If you couldn’t protect yourself, I’d help. Moony would help. Daphne and Astoria would help. Fuck Moody. _

_ I know you missed the second task because of some House business, but I’m happy to report that Harry is alive. So am I. I was taken as Viktor’s closest person that they had access to and while I’m touched, I was also  _ very _ annoyed. And cold. Merlin, that water was cold. I did warm up fine, but apparently, I was seen sitting close with Draco by someone I’d like to transfigure into a rock and toss into the Atlantic ocean. _

_ I’m unsure if you’ve read the Daily Prophet, but there’s a woman, Rita Skeeter, that’s been writing about me. Apparently, I’m a harlot. Did you know? I sure didn’t. _

_ But I thought I could ask for a favor. I know there’s a spell to force an animagus into their animagus form permanently - or at least until the caster reverses it - and I can’t remember the spell. I was hoping you could help me. I promise to never use it on you if that is one of your concerns. Not unless it’s for your own good. Please give me the spell. _

_ I’d like to continue coming to the Wizengamot meetings. It’s fun. They lose their shit over absolutely nothing. Is that why you don’t complain about going? I totally get it.  _

_ I’ll see you for Easter.  _

_ Love, _

_ Cassiopeia _

_ P.S. No, I don’t want to go visit Lucius in prison and fuck with him, and I don’t think you should, either. Neither of us needs to be around dementors, Sirius. Find a different way to get your childish energy out.  _

* * *

**May 5th, 1995**

**DADA Classroom**

Cassiopeia watched intently as their Defense Professor cast the Unforgivable Curse on her cousin once more. Draco was clearly fighting it as he twitched next to her, fighting the urge to stand as Moody told him to using the curse.  _ Finally _ after three minutes, Draco’s eyes opened suddenly as he threw off the curse. 

“Mister Malfoy has done it!” Moody exclaimed. “You may leave.”

“It’s Black,” Cassiopeia corrected as Draco made his way from the room, likely with a headache. “He’s a Black.”

“Perhaps you’d like to go next, then,” Moody raised an eyebrow. “Your brother was particularly good at throwing off the Imperius.”

“Which one?” she wondered. 

Moody grinned, an unwelcome sight. “Regulus.”

“And how would you know that?”

“He was a Death Eater,” he said sharply. She tensed, her eyes flashing. “My job was to know things about Death Eaters.”

“Sure.”

“You ready?” he asked gruffly, pointing his wand at her. She resisted the urge to pull her own wand and nodded once. As much as she thought it was totally inappropriate to teach kids how to throw off the spell, she also wanted to know and she knew that no one else in her life would be willing to teach her. Plus, Sirius had told her that he fully trusted the man, so she tried to do the same despite the uneasy feeling he gave her. “ _ Imperio _ !” 

Immediately, Cassiopeia felt a sharp pain in her mind. She felt the urge to get to her feet and kiss the person to her right, Theo. Immediately, her mind rebelled. That wasn’t right. She didn’t want to kiss Theo. He was one of her best friends, but she was dating Blaise. Quickly, the urge shifted to the person to her left, which was her boyfriend. It felt much more natural and she did lean closer, but her mind stopped her again. She was in  _ class _ . She’d never kiss in class, not in front of a teacher. After that, she just relaxed, no urge to do anything. It felt nice. She felt much calmer than she had over the last few months, maybe a year. While that was also unnatural, she wanted to lean into it. When the calmness slowly shifted to try to get her to kiss Blaise again, she tensed and fought back. Finally, she threw off the spell completely. 

“Merlin, Cas, are you okay?” Theo asked, touching her shoulder. She nodded a little, looking at him. She was grateful to find that she did not want to kiss him. “That took a really long time.”

“Miss Black seems to be particularly gifted,” Moody commented. “She put up a good fight.”

“You tried to make me kiss Theo,” she glared at him. “That’s not realistic. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to start with relaxing me and suggesting I kiss Blaise like you did in the end?”

“Well I didn’t realize it would be so bloody hard,” he admitted. “No one else has used so much effort, Black.”

Cassiopeia hummed and got to her feet. Her head hurt bad and she just wanted a pain potion and a nap. Once he dismissed her, she found her way down to the potions classroom. Class was in, so she just went into Snape’s office and closed the door behind her. He kept a few potions in the drawers of his desk, and she heavily considered just grabbing what she needed and leaving. Unfortunately, he entered the room and closed the door behind him. 

“What now, Black?”

“If I’m being honest, I don’t want to tell you.”

Snape looked like his patience was already running out, which she figured was fair. They’d been snarking at one another quite a bit since he found out about her animagus training. Remus’s visit had been quite helpful and led to their meetings continuing, but their relationship had changed a little - instead of purely being concerned for her health and safety, he seemed frustrated that, in his eyes, she refused to take care of herself. She found it somewhat amusing, and she’d admit to pushing his buttons on purpose every once in a while. “What happened?”

Cassiopeia sighed and pushed her hair behind her ears, irritated by the feeling of the curls tickling her cheeks. “Moody has been teaching us to throw off the Imperius.”

“I heard,” Snape told her. “Today was your turn?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “I checked the time after. Apparently, it took about seven minutes. I left straight after because I was annoyed and my head hurts really badly.”

“With unfinished Occlumency shields, any sort of mind penetration will cause you a great deal of pain,” Snape agreed. Cassiopeia pouted a little.

“So a pain potion won’t fix this? I’m not in the mood for Occlumency!”

“Then suffer,” he suggested, raising an eyebrow. She made a face at him. “Come back when my class is over and I will see what I can do for you.”

“ _ Or _ I could hang out in here until then,” she requested with a smile. He narrowed his eyes at her and she just smiled brighter. 

“Fine. If you are going to waste your time in my office, start grading the first year essays,” he instructed, waving at a stack of parchment. She nodded gratefully and picked up the first one, setting into it as he walked out to continue his class.

* * *

**June 24th, 1995**

**Hogwarts Grounds**

Cassiopeia and Ginny stood in the tent they knew was meant for the Daily Prophet - for Rita. They heard Draco’s voice approaching and moved closer to hug tightly, and Cassiopeia rolled her eyes when she heard Rita gasp in shock. 

She twisted around, her wand out, and cast the spell. There was a bright flash as the woman was forced into the annoying bug she truly was, and Cassiopeia grabbed her, dropping her into a jar before she could escape. 

She glanced at Draco. “Thank you, love. She’s driving me crazy.”

“No problem,” he said, glancing at the jar. “Father wrote me a very strongly worded letter  _ from Azkaban _ after she claimed we were having some sordid love affair.” 

“We should get back out there,” Ginny reminded them, tapping Cassiopeia’s arm. “You can drop her off in Peru later.”

Cassiopeia smirked. 

“Cassiopeia, no, I was kidding,” her friend said quickly. “You’re not really…?”

“We’re going to miss the ceremony,” she laughed, pulling her friends from the tent and toward the Quidditch pitch. 

It was time for the third task.

* * *

Cassiopeia ran as fast as she could to the DADA room, her wand already out in front of her. She ignored Snape and Sirius yelling at her to go away, instead focusing on making it to the room quickly. When she threw the door open, Sirius grabbed her arm and shoved her behind him. She slammed into Snape and the man steadied her quickly before pushing past her. She was in the back of the group by the time they got through the door. 

She ran over to Harry and grabbed onto him, wrapping him up in a hug as Snape, Dumbledore, Sirius, and McGonagall all surrounded Moody. Snape poured a potion down the man’s throat while Cassiopeia looked over Harry’s arm. She cast a few spells, one to heal it as best as she could and a few more for pain relief and to numb it. The last one she cast was a jet of water that cleaned it out once it was numbed, rinsing out blood and dirt. 

“Do you know who I am?” Dumbledore demanded loudly, gripping Moody’s robes. 

“Albus Dumbledore,” he answered. 

“Are you Alastor Moody?” Dumbledore asked. When he didn’t reply, he shook him by his robes. “Are you?”

“No.”

“Is he in this room?” Dumbledore glanced around as if Moody would just be lying out in the open. “ _ Is he in this room _ ?”

The glass eye looked over to the nearby trunk. Snape, seeing it, went and opened it once Sirius tugged the teenagers away from it and wrapped an arm around each of them. Dumbledore leaned over to spot the real Moody at the bottom of the very deep trunk. “You alright Alastor?”

“I’m sorry Albus,” Moody called back. 

“So who the fuck are you?” Cassiopeia asked, glaring darkly at the unknown man. “You went in my head! Who are you to actually know Regulus?”

“Polyjuice,” Snape said, sniffing the flask in his hand that he’d grabbed from a table. 

“Now we know who's been stealing from your stores, Severus,” Dumbledore commented. Cassiopeia’s lips twitched. 

“No, that was me,” she fessed up. “I was upset. I gave you plenty in return, though.”

“Detention.”

“Is that  _ really _ important right now?” Sirius snapped, waving vaguely at Fake Moody. 

“We’ll get you up in a minute,” Dumbledore promised Moody. Cassiopeia let out a shriek and jumped back into Sirius. He grabbed her in a tight grip and watched Fake Moody squirm as the potion wore off. Cassiopeia put up a shield and bound the man once more as soon as the potion had completely worn off before he could attack anyone. 

“Barty Crouch Jr,” Dumbledore commented. Sirius stared at the man with anger and disgust, fully aware that he’d helped Bellatrix and Rabastan torture his friends into insanity.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” Barty offered Harry. 

“He won’t do a damn thing,” Sirius snapped. Cassiopeia pushed Harry’s arm down when he went to comply. 

“You know what this means, don’t you?” the man asked, licking his lips with wide, excited eyes. “He’s back. Lord Voldemort has returned.”

“Send him to Azkaban,” Dumbledore ordered. “I think they’ll find they’re missing a prisoner.”

“We’re leaving,” Sirius told them. He wrapped an arm around Cassiopeia and Harry both. “Harry needs to see someone for his arm and to be truthful, I don’t want Cassiopeia here any longer than necessary.”

“Sirius-,”

“ _ We’re leaving _ .”

* * *


	14. Umbridge

**July 5th, 1995**

**London**

“You’re gross,” Cassiopeia rolled her eyes, throwing a napkin at her brother. Harry snickered and shut his mouth to chew. “You’re like a five-year-old.”

“He’s a boy,” Astoria agreed. “Of course he is.”

“Are we going?” Blaise asked, nudging Cassiopeia. She nodded and got to her feet. 

“Remember, we’re staying at Grimmauld Place for the rest of summer,” Harry poked her side as she passed him. “Don’t go to Potter Manor or the elves will just yell at you.”

Cassiopeia made a face. “I don’t get why Dorea thinks the entire place needs to be swept for dark magic. I also don’t get why Sirius won’t just open up Black Manor.”

“I dunno, he’s gone through enough going back to Grimmauld Place. I don’t really feel like he needs to deal with Black Manor, too.”

Cassiopeia shook her head and grabbed Blaise’s hand. “I’ll see you later.”

“Uh, no,” Harry disagreed. “Sirius said I could stay with Ron for a while.”

“You’re gonna leave me with Sirius to complain about how you’re gone?” she asked, horrified. Blaise tugged on her arm and tried not to laugh. 

“We’re going to be late.”

“Right, well, I’ll see you when you get back. If I survive.”

“Sure.”

* * *

**July 1st, 1995**

**Grimmauld Place**

“Are you going to spend every day in the library?” Sirius wondered, tugging at Cassiopeia’s hair. She shoved his hand away and looked up at him curiously. 

“Have you come up with something better to do yet?” 

He huffed. “You don’t like Quidditch.”

“And you’ve got the maturity of a toddler,” she accused, closing her book.

“Harry should be arriving soon,” Sirius reminded her for the fourth time that day. 

“Merlin, we need to get you a hobby,” she complained. “If you’re so desperate for him to come home, why did you let him spend so much time at the Weasley’s?”

“I like reading,” he defended. “I just get restless. And I let him because he’s a teenager and he wanted to go, and they’re rather harmless.”

“Most of them. Ron’s an asshole.” She thought for a long moment before setting her legs on his lap. “Tell me a story.”

“About what?”

“Anything. The past, real or fake. Tell me moreabout Regulus.”

“I suppose I can tell you about Regulus."

“Yeah?”

“He was a prat.”

“Sirius!”

“He was,” Sirius promised. “He was in Slytherin, I was in Gryffindor. We argued a lot.”

“But not before school, right?”

He paused. “No. Before school, we were close. He was actually funny, and he stuck to my side. Our mother forced him to basically disown me when I was sorted into Gryffindor, though.”

“That’s horrible,” Cassiopeia whispered, remembering when she had been told about that. 

“That’s how Walburga was,” he snorted. “She was horrible. Glad she’s dead.”

“But Regulus,” she tried, hopeful that maybe he’d tell her something. “What good memories do you have?” 

Sirius considered the question. “Just random things, here and there. Our childhood was dictated by our mother, so we didn’t exactly have time for fun. There was… in my second year - his first year - it was the middle of winter, and there was a school-wide snowball fight. Somehow, he and I ended up abandoning our teams and holing up together in one of the towers. He would throw snowballs at his classmates, and I’d throw some at mine.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Cassiopeia grinned. Sirius sighed. 

“I know he wasn’t really… he didn’t believe in what he was doing. My problem with him is that he did it anyway.” 

Cassiopeia looked at Sirius sadly, her mind drifting to her own friends before she thought of herself. “Not all of us can be as brave as you, Sirius.” 

Sirius sighed. “If he’d been brave, he wouldn’t have died… he wouldn’t have broken his promise to you, and maybe this whole mess wouldn’t have happened.”

Cassiopeia frowned. “It’s not his fault.”

Sirius just shrugged. 

“How did he die?” she wondered after a long moment, asking the question that had been bothering her for so long. “You really don’t know?”

“No,” Sirius admitted, much to her disappointment. “But Voldemort obviously wasn’t too happy with our family. I think Reg did something to piss him off and got killed.” 

“Maybe he was being brave.”

“Maybe.” 

* * *

**August 19th, 1995**

**Grimmauld Place**

“I’m going to bloody hex him,” she hissed, leaning against the door. Harry looked up at her tiredly. 

“Then do it,” he sighed. “Leave me out of it when Mrs. Weasley starts screaming.”

“She raised a prat,” she huffed, sitting on the bed next to him. 

“Two of them,” Fred said, popping into the room. 

“Yeah, don’t forget Percy,” George ticked, laughing at the annoyed look she gave them. 

“Percy never went out of his way to annoy me,” she reminded them. “Like you two are doing right now.” 

“Oh, we’re just trying to warn you that Snape is here,” Fred shrugged. 

“Yeah, he’s requested to see you again.” 

“Tell him I’m not here,” she muttered, flipping over to shove her face in the pillow. 

“That’s what we’ve done-,”

“Unfortunately, everyone else in the house knows it’s not true.” 

“Why  _ are _ you avoiding him, Cassiopeia?” Harry asked, looking down at her in concern. She sighed. She didn’t want him worrying about her, not when he obviously had so much on his mind already, so she hadn’t been talking to him much about her own issues. 

“I’m not,” she shrugged. “I’m just not in the mood to talk to him.”

“Whatever you say, Black,” George shrugged. “But he’s on his way up here.” 

“What?” she gasped, sitting up straight to look at them as they popped out of the room, leaving her alone with Harry. “Were they kidding? I can’t tell if they were kidding.” 

“I don’t think they were kidding,” Harry sighed, pulling himself into a sitting position as well as the door opened. As expected, Snape poked his head in and got Cassiopeia’s attention. Harry shook his head. “I’m going to find Sirius."

“He’s in the library,” Snape commented as Harry made his way out of the room. 

Cassiopeia sat on the bed with her legs crossed and looked up at the man in front of her uncomfortable. “Is something wrong, sir?”

“You are avoiding me,” he accused. “Which is quite impressive considering you are stuck in this house for the rest of the summer.” It was true. Harry had been found by a dementor while walking around London with Daphne and Astoria, and he’d been forced to use his Patronus to get rid of it. He’d had a trial where he was found innocent, but he and Cassiopeia had been told they weren’t allowed to leave for the rest of the summer. It was too dangerous. 

“I’m not avoiding you,” she denied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “I’ve just been tired.” 

“Your friends are not exceptional liars,” Snape told her. “Mister Weasley just told me you’d gone to see your sick grandfather merely minutes before I arrived.”

Cassiopeia winced. Arcturus Black had been dead for years, as had Charlus Potter. “Yeah… I didn’t expect much from them, honestly.” 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, and she sighed. She knew logically that he’d done nothing to deserve the way she was treating him, but she couldn’t help it. Ever since second year, he’d been her safe place to go with nightmares and injuries and fears, and right now, she wanted more than anything to pretend that she was a whole person. 

“I’m tired,” she muttered. 

Snape stood there, looking extremely uncomfortable as he argued with himself, debating what to say. She let him, resting her head on her hands as she waited. Finally, he took a deep breath before speaking. “My mother was a witch, but my father was a muggle.”

Cassiopeia blinked in surprise. In all of their talks, he’d never told her anything personal about himself. Usually, she’d tell him what was on her mind, be it a nightmare or memories or just the test coming up. “Oh.”

“He hated magic,” he continued. “And he hated us for having magic.”

“Oh,” she said again, catching his drift. 

“I’ve been in your spot, Black,” he told her quietly. “And the worst part of it was refusing to talk to anyone about it when it got bad.” 

“Well, it’s not like I’m going back there ever again,” she reasoned. “So it  _ got _ bad, but it shouldn’t be anymore, right? I’ve been with Sirius since last summer.”

He looked at her with a frown. “It doesn’t have to be me, but… talk to someone. You’re at a very precarious age, and I would hate to see you turn into a tired, bitter person.” 

She looked at him, completely aware of how rare the moment they shared was. He had never before spoken like this, and she wondered if he ever would again. She felt awful at the thought of being anything but truthful with him. “I’m tired of having this in my life, Professor. I’m sick of the nightmares, and the leftover pains, and the other issues that come with this.” 

“Other issues?” he wondered. They’d never spoken before about her mental health, and he was rather surprised that she brought it up on her own. 

“I’ve had a lot of time to read,” she shrugged. “I might not be officially diagnosed, but… I can see symptoms of a rather unhealthy mental state in myself.” 

He tilted his head at her. “Occlumency is wonderful therapy.” 

Cassiopeia knew he’d wanted her to get back to it ever since they’d stumbled upon the nasty memory, but they’d had very few sessions since then as she was worried about him seeing the other things she wanted kept secret. With a sigh, she nodded. “When school begins again.”

Snape nodded once and turned to leave before pausing to look back at her. “Things are going to get very bad for your friends. Keep in mind the events of the world if they do anything… out of character.” 

Cassiopeia didn’t bother acknowledging his words. 

Her friends were something she’d been trying very hard not to think about.

* * *

**August 21st, 1995**

**Grimmauld Place**

Sirius ducked as a vase flew from the kitchen counter behind him and smashed into the wall, barely missing his head. “Hey!”

“You got glass in my mashed potatoes,” Harry complained. Remus vanished the glass for the boy and looked at the angry girl. 

“We told you so you can prepare yourselves,” he explained. “And hopefully get this reaction out of you now rather than later.”

“She’s- she’s horrible!” Cassiopeia sputtered. “Don’t you have any way to change this? After Crouch Jr. sneaking his way into my mind and trying to fucking sneak off with Harry, I feel like we’re due for a good DADA professor!”

“We’ve had one,” Draco reminded her, making a face at her exploding anger. “Did you really think we’d get another?”

“With Sirius on the board of directors, yes!”

“I’m sorry, kitten,” Sirius shook his head regretfully. “They don’t give a shit what I think. That smear campaign against us and Dumbledore is working a little too well. Just be careful. She has a record of dark magic and a short temper.”

“Great, she’ll be dead by the end of the first class,” Draco muttered.

“Draco,” Narcissa stared at him. “Do not say such things.”

“Mother, I apologize, but she is extremely reckless,” Draco insisted. “If Umbridge has a bad temper, Cassiopeia’s is worse.”

“This might be a good thing,” Cassiopeia said after a moment, her eyes landing on Remus again. “If she’s busy at Hogwarts, she can’t continue putting up oppressive laws for werewolves for vote. We can use this time to go through the laws she’s submitted and maybe have them removed! This is good!”

“But Cas-,”

“Nope,” Sirius shook his head at Harry. “We’ll take it. Her accidental magic and sparking hair have stopped, I don’t care why.”

“That is a wonderful point,” Narcissa agreed with her goddaughter. “She will be unavailable for any ministry business while at Hogwarts.”

“Okay,” Harry nodded. “Can we eat now?”

* * *

**September 1st, 1995**

**Hogwarts**

Cassiopeia sat next to Theo and Blaise, shaking in anger as Umbridge walked back to her seat with a smug smile on her ugly little face. “She’s despicable!” 

“She’s just acting on the orders of Fudge,” Astoria commented, annoyed with the ugly woman. “They both need to go.”

“I’m… Oh, I am absolutely going to be her worst student,” Blaise laughed. 

“This is ridiculous,” Cassiopeia complained. Theo rubbed her arm lightly but otherwise let her simmer in anger, not willing to get in the way. “She’s just like the rest of them! I saw Harry when he got back from his hearing after the attack in muggle London, he said no one believed him. Merlin’s sake, they almost expelled him for protecting himself!” 

“I’d assume the ministry sent the Dementors after him on behalf of the Dark Lord,” Daphne told her quietly. “With Harry out of the way, coming back to power would be easy.”

Cassiopeia glared at their new DADA teacher darkly. Snape caught her eye for a moment and shook his head, and reluctantly, she looked away. She got the point - don’t be so obvious. 

Well, that wouldn’t work. 

Umbridge was going to have a hell of a time with her.

* * *

**September 4th, 1995**

**Defense Against the Dark Arts**

Cassiopeia sat between Daphne and Harry and ignored them both equally as they begged her not to cause problems. Blaise and Theo were behind her, and both knew it was a lost cause. She refused to stand down as the ministry tried to silence and stunt the children. They had a right to learn, and she had a bad feeling that learning wasn’t something Umbridge planned on letting them do. 

An enchanted paper bird fell onto Padma’s desk at the front, burning to a crisp. Cassiopeia scowled.

“Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations… O...W...L...,” Umbridge said in her high tone as she walked slowly to the front of the room. “More commonly known as OWLS. Study hard, and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences may be severe.”

“And you think this is no big deal?” Cassiopeia whispered to Draco, who sat in front of her. He ignored her, as he’d been doing since they’d had a large fight after the welcoming feast. She scowled at his lack of response and leaned back in her chair as Umbridge charmed books to pass out to them. 

“Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven… but you’ll be pleased to know that from now on, you’ll be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic.”

Cassiopeia scoffed at the open book in front of her and raised her hand. 

“Yes?”

“This is bloody ridiculous.”

“Ten points from Slytherin!” 

“Sorry,” Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. “This is bloody ridiculous,  _ ma’am _ .”

“And why would this carefully set plan from the ministry be ridiculous, Miss…?”

“Black,” she replied shortly, rolling her eyes. Umbridge definitely knew who she was already. “And because first of all, the ministry has no right to decide what we should and shouldn’t learn.  _ You _ shouldn’t be here. And second of all, there’s nothing even in here about using defensive spells-,”

“Well, I can’t imagine why you’d  _ need _ to use spells in my classroom,” Umbridge laughed. Cassiopeia’s anger flared, but Ron spoke before she could.

“We’re not going to be using magic?”

“You’ll be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way.”

Harry shifted as Cassiopeia moved to reply, but her friend caught Umbridge’s attention first. “What use is that? If we’re attacked, it won’t be risk-free.”

“Students will raise their hands when they speak in my class,” Umbridge said, turning to walk back to the front of the room. “It is the view of the ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient…"

“Oh, so when we’re older and running the world and they’re old and dying they can wonder why we’re not protecting them?” Cassiopeia laughed. “‘Yeah, right, because some ugly lady told us we didn’t  _ need _ to learn to use magic! In fact, might as well break our wands for all we know, right?’” 

“Detention, Miss Black!” Umbridge snapped. “Friday night. Please go to your head of house for the rest of class.”

“Gladly,” she hissed, grabbing her bag and storming from the room. She reached Snape’s office within five minutes and got his attention before heading inside. He was setting out instructions for some seventh years, and it took him barely ten minutes before he walked in and sat down, sighing at her. 

“What did you do?” 

“She’s bloody insane!” she huffed. “She refuses to let us even use our wands! We’re not even going to practice magic, we’re just going to read books and write essays. That’s not going to do much good during the fucking war, now is it?”

Snape stared at her. “You forget you’re speaking to your Head of House.” 

“Give me another detention, I don’t care,” she mumbled. “I’m angry.” 

“You were given detention?” She nodded, and he sighed. “I hoped you could make it through  _ one _ class with her.” 

“We’re not doing this,” Cassiopeia shook her head firmly. “No. If we can’t learn in class, we’ll learn somewhere else.” 

Snape frowned at her. “What are you talking about?” 

“Harry will teach us,” she explained. “And me. Anyone who wants to join, we’ll actually teach them how to use their magic.” 

Snape nodded slowly. “She’ll find a way to stop you. Make a rule about it.” 

“I don’t  _ care _ ,” she stressed, running fingers through her hair. “Voldemort is back, and this is the first year we’re back at school to learn to defend ourselves from him, and they want us to just sit on our wands? No. I’m not going to fucking die in this war, and neither are my friends.” 

“I certainly hope that is true,” Snape replied quietly. 

* * *

**September 8th, 1995**

**Umbridge’s Office**

Cassiopeia placed herself silently in the desk, rolling her eyes at the piece of pink embroidery on it. “I’m doing lines?”

“Yes, you will be.” She leaned over to pick out a quill from her bag, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. “No, you’ll be using a rather special one of mine.” She frowned, suspicious, and grabbed the quill from the frilly woman. “Now, I want you to write, ‘I will not be a bother.’”

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at the assignment but nodded. “How many times?”

“Oh… say, for as long as it takes for the message to sink in.” 

“Yeah, okay,” she shook her head. “You haven’t given me any ink.”

“Oh, you won’t need any ink.” 

Cassiopeia’s suspicions heightened as she pressed the quill to the parchment and began writing out the annoying line she’d been assigned. 

She didn’t notice for quite a while what was happening, because she’d gotten some nerve damage in her hand once while trying to avoid having a vase slammed into her head one night when Vernon had gotten drunk. Instead, it had broken into her hand, and it took a long time to heal. 

Which meant that the only reason she knew something was wrong was the way Umbridge kept looking at her in frustration, and then, of course, when a drop of blood dripped onto her parchment. 

She froze. She’d been doing lines for a full five hours at least, and now she knew what she’d been doing them with. 

“This is illegal,” she hissed, standing up abruptly. She quietly snuck the quill into her pocket as she glared at her teacher. “This is illegal, and you know it!” 

“I was told to do whatever I needed to do to get through to the children,” Umbridge smiled sweetly. “I think this works nicely.” 

“Sure,” Cassiopeia rolled her eyes, picking her bag up and storming toward the door. “I’m certain they’ll adore the fact that you’re  _ torturing _ children.” 

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” the woman replied quietly as she stormed out of the office.

She looked closely at her hand as she walked. It was covered with blood, and she wondered vaguely if more had dripped onto the parchment that she hadn’t noticed, because it was dripping freely now, leaving a small trail behind her as she walked. 

She debated quietly on whether or not to go to Snape since it was getting pretty late. She paced around the castle a little bit, staring in wonder at her hand as it dripped slowly. Most everyone was in bed or asleep already, and only the prefects and teachers would still be up. 

Which was something Cassiopeia had not considered as she paced near Gryffindor tower, thinking, and was stopped by McGonagall. 

“Miss Black! Miss Black, is this your blood?” the woman asked as she ran over, panicked. Cassiopeia took in a sharp breath and moved her hand behind her abruptly. 

“What?” 

“Your hand,” McGonagall gasped, reaching out. Apparently, she’d not been quick enough in hiding it. “Tell me what’s happened.”

“I- um, fell.”

She got an unbelieving stare in response. “If you won’t tell me, we’ll have to take you to Professor Snape. Merlin knows how, but you’ve gotten him to speak more in the past five years than I’ve seen in the twenty-five I’ve known him.” 

Cassiopeia puzzled at the words as she followed the Gryffindor Head down to the dungeons. They walked to his private rooms and McGonagall knocked hard three times. It opened after a long, quiet moment, and Snape stood there, looking distinctly annoyed. “Minerva, it is-,”

“Miss Black was wandering the castle, bleeding.” 

Snape’s eyes shot to Cassiopeia, who was leaning against the wall tiredly. “Miss Black?”

“It’s been a long night,” she sighed before raising an eyebrow. “Detention.”

He cursed - actually cursed - and nodded. “I’ll take care of her from here. Thank you, Minerva.” 

McGonagall walked away, and Snape waved for Cassiopeia to move. They walked together silently until they found the potions classroom, where he shut the door behind them and turned on her. 

“Bleeding?” Instead of answering verbally, she dug in her pocket and plucked out the Blood Quill she’d been forced to use. He stared at it for a very long moment. “And your hand?” 

She pulled the bleeding hand up to show him, and he visibly winced when he saw it. “I was there for like… four hours? Five? I’m not certain. I didn’t feel it or I would’ve left as soon as I noticed.” 

“This is going to scar,” he muttered as he levitated a bottle of murtlap essence over. “This will help, but this will certainly scar.” 

“She essentially told me that she can do whatever the hell she wants,” she told him as he cleaned up her hand slowly and carefully. He spelled some water onto her hand to rinse out the wound before grabbing a cloth to pat it dry so he could put the murtlap essence on it. “She said the ministry told her to do whatever it takes to get shit done, and apparently, that includes torturing kids.” 

Snape finished healing her hand silently, wrapping it up with gauze and then in a magical ace bandage so that no one would question her. When he was done, he levitated his things back to the right shelves and sat down across from her, looking very tired. “You cannot get her fired.”

“But-,”

“No,” he shook his head. “I mean you literally cannot do it. The board of directors all voted her on, and they all work at the ministry as well. They will stand by her no matter what. No matter who you are.”

“I didn’t… I want her distracted so we can deal with her laws so I guess I don’t want her to be fired either, but… what am I supposed to do? She hates me already.”

He looked at her seriously. “Don’t get detention again.”

* * *

_ Sirius, _

_ This is shit.  _

_ I mean it. I don’t know what Harry has told you, but… oh my god. Umbridge is horrible. I won’t give you details because you’re liable to have a fit but know that it’s much worse than we originally thought. Luckily, Harry managed to avoid detention, and the privilege went to me.  _

_ Fun times.  _

_ Snape has asked me not to argue her anymore, I think he was on the verge of begging, but I can’t just sit there while she teaches us a whole lot of nothing. It’s infuriating. So, I have my third detention with her later today.  _

_ I hope you’re doing well. I know you said your knee was hurting you before we left and that it felt better as Padfoot, but you cannot stay Padfoot forever. I’m writing Remus just to ensure you’re not being a stubborn old dog.  _

_ I was hoping you could send me that book on pureblood rituals I was reading before we left. It’s in my room under my pillow. I forgot it while packing.  _

_ All my love, _

_ Cassiopeia. _

_ P.S. Yes, Draco is still being a prat. Yes, he’s still my friend. He’s literally my cousin. No, I don’t want you to pull some sort of Lord Black bullshit. Friends have arguments. We’ll figure it out on our own. _

* * *

**September 15th, 1995**

**Slytherin Common Rooms**

Cassiopeia swatted Blaise’s hands away from her own even as she leaned against him. “Leave it.”

“She  _ scarred  _ you. You’re a Black. She’s going to be in deep shit,” he told her, his voice and eyes dark. 

She rolled her eyes. 

“I don’t get how you let it go so long,” Astoria commented. “This has to be hours worth of writing.”

“I didn’t feel it,” she shrugged. “I’ve got some nerve damage on the top of my hand.”

“You’re not going to stop,” Draco muttered. It wasn’t a question - he knew her better than that. They were still arguing constantly, but at that moment, he was worried about his friend. “You need to stop.”

“That’s what Snape said,” she admitted. “I just disagree.”

“ _ Why _ ?” Daphne gaped. 

“Because Harry feels the same way I do. If it isn’t me, it’ll be him,” she said to her friends. “I won’t stop protecting him, especially not now that Voldemort is back.”

Her friends shared looks, and Theo touched her arm. “He’s important for whatever war is coming, yes. But you are, too. You’ll be one of the biggest targets, Cassiopeia. You know that.”

“I’m not abandoning him,” she snapped. “I know that’s what you’re suggesting. And we’re  _ not _ telling Sirius.”

“ _ Why _ ?”

“Because this is important,” she insisted. “We’re getting important work done. If you tell Sirius, I will not tell you the next time something happens. I’ll get private rooms from Snape and avoid all of you. I mean it.”

“She’s not bluffing,” Daphne told their friends softly. “You know she isn’t. We can’t tell him. She’ll just do something even dumber.”

“It would be safer,” Blaise told her, though he looked as if he’d already lost the argument if the worried frown on his face meant anything. 

“I don’t care! Nothing in my life has ever been safe, and if you guys want me to abandon the people I love just to keep safe then you really don’t know me,” she told them angrily. 

“We just want you safe.”

“And I want Harry and all of you safe. I won’t sacrifice you for myself. Not ever.”

* * *

**October 1st, 1995**

**Potions Classroom**

_ Cassiopeia squirmed, using her small hands to hit the large ones that wrapped around her neck.  _

_ Older and older and the same memory repeated in different circumstances.  _

_ Age seven after breaking a plate.  _

_ Age ten after a burst of accidental magic.  _

_ So many times after accidental magic.  _

_ Over and over, Vernon Dursley choked the small girl into unconsciousness.  _

Cassiopeia felt Snape leave her mind and stared, shaking slightly. It was their first session since last year and he’d immediately stumbled upon possibly the worst part of it all. 

“Take a deep breath,” he advised quietly. “You’re safe.”

Safe. The word sounded so foreign to her in her shocked state that she shook her head absently, still staring ahead and at her teacher. 

“Cassiopeia, you are safe,” he said again, this time placing a hand on her shoulder. The touch and his words startled her out of her state, and she sucked in a sharp breath. 

“I’m… sorry,” she whispered, grabbing her bag and running from the room without another word. Snape watched her leave sadly, the memories and the sight of her afterward weighing heavily on his heart as he worried that she wouldn’t come back again.

Cassiopeia collapsed against a wall, sliding down it. She hugged her knees to her chest and put her head down, letting her tears fall freely and silently. It was too much. She’d suppressed those memories so perfectly that it had taken Snape  _ so long _ to reach them, but he had. They’d come one after another after another, not stopping until she made it stop. 

The memories were the secrets that she and Vernon had held from everyone else - Vernon for fear of being found out and Cassiopeia from shame and fear. Harry hadn’t even known, and she was so sure it had never happened to him because he had been so surprised before their eleventh birthdays when Vernon and Petunia had gotten more violent. 

She’d never known how to process it but she’d known how much it  _ hurt _ to think about, so she’d done the only logical thing that a small, unprotected child could do - she buried it so deep that she rarely thought about it. But the memories had been uncovered and there was no changing that. She had to deal with them or avoid them but either way, it would hurt. 

* * *

**October 9th, 1995**

**DADA Classroom**

It had become a sort of game, she supposed. Who could get the first detention of the day. She was grateful to say that most days, she won, and Harry couldn’t even be upset about it because they were both equally angry for the same reasons. 

But it was a dangerous game, and one she certainly regretted right then. 

She had often wondered what the definition of torture was. She’d wondered how many of the pains she’d felt that had gone untreated could edge the definition of torture. A dangerously broken bone? A deep, long cut down her leg from broken glass when Petunia had left Dudley alone while she cleaned up the broken window? Being locked up in the cupboard under the stairs while bleeding and hurt and sick and  _ so hungry _ ? 

Lying on the ground in a ball, unable to scream as pain laced through every single piece of her, she knew that she’d never felt such pain before. 

Umbridge lifted the spell for a long moment, longer than before, and she waited anxiously for it to begin again. Just as she thought that maybe the woman had finally finished, it hit and she cried out silently. Tears streamed down her cheeks as the time passed and she longed for  _ any _ release from the pain.

Finally, after what had to be hours, the curse was lifted again. She waited and waited, but nothing came, and she looked up in confusion.

“You may go.”

Cassiopeia wasn’t sure how, but she managed to stumble down to the potions room, where Snape had taken to staying on nights of her detentions. They’d set up a system where he’d wait until she checked in, and if she was fine, they’d go their separate ways and get some rest. If not, he’d heal her. 

She tripped over her robes and was barely caught by the man in question. His hand on her back burned her with pain, and she cried out, thankful to finally be able to make noise again, to express her pain. 

“Black,  _ what did she do _ ?” he hissed as he managed to lead her over to a chair. She sat uncomfortably and stared down in silence at her violently shaking hands. He looked over her carefully, and there was horror in his voice when he spoke again. “Cruciatus?”

She was only able to nod and whisper a quiet request before she finally passed out, falling out of the chair. 

* * *

**October 11th, 1995**

**Spinner’s End**

Cassiopeia was surprised when she woke in a completely unfamiliar place. Her hand shot out to look for her wand, and she sighed in relief as her fingers touched the wood. She was lying on a couch in a living room that she’d never been in before. There was nothing nearby except for a coffee table in front of her and an armchair in the corner of the room. 

“You’re awake.”

She spun around to find Snape frowning at her and frowned right back. “Where am I?”

He walked around and sat on the coffee table. “There are very few things that Madam Pomfrey is forced to report and to ask questions about. One of those things is the Cruciatus.” 

“So I’m…?”

He looked pained as he answered her. “In my home. There was no other safe place to take you to treat you.” 

She frowned. “I wasn’t that bad, was I?”

“She could’ve killed you,” he told her honestly. “I’m not entirely certain she wasn’t trying to.” 

“How long?”

“Two days. It’ll be rough, but you’ll have to go back soon.” 

“Where does everyone think I’ve gone?” she blinked. 

“To visit Black properties.”

She snorted. “And my friends, when they didn’t believe you?”

He sighed, looking annoyed. “I told them you were hurt and I took you to be healed. Since he has not stormed Hogwarts looking for you, I do not believe anyone has contacted your brother.”

She nodded and fell silent for a moment before another thought occurred to her. “Has she done this to anyone else?”

“No,” he narrowed his eyes at her. “She has a particular grudge against you.” 

“If it isn’t me, it’s Harry,” she told him. 

“Let it be him,” he snapped. “You’re a Slytherin. Start acting like it.” 

She let out a small laugh. “I worried you again.”

His lips thinned into a line. “Do you find it amusing that I was concerned because you  _ almost died _ ?”

“Well, when you put it like that, no.”

“I liked you better when you were in a coma,” he grumbled. 

“No,” she smiled at him gratefully. “You were worried while I was in a coma. Now you’re relieved because I feel good enough to get on your nerves again.”

His eyes flashed. “When I said to act like a Slytherin-,”

“Yeah, not to you, I know,” she laughed. “Can I go back to school now?” 

“Not before you swear to me that you’ll stop trying to get detentions with her,” he said seriously. She shook her head immediately. 

“As I said, if it isn’t me, it’s Harry.” 

“He’s perfectly capable of handling himself,” Snape told her firmly. “Stop arguing with her. Stop getting in trouble with her. Merlin knows she sends you to my office every time, and I’ve not got time to grade essays anymore.”

“Is  _ that _ why it’s taken you so long to grade our essay on wolfsbane as a Pepper-Up replacement?” she asked, tilting her head. “I thought you just forgot it.” 

He stared at her with a murderous look. “You were placed in the wrong bloody house.” 

She grinned. “You love me. Think of how much worse off I’d be if I weren’t in your House.” He stopped, and she realized suddenly how true her words were. She frowned a little, letting the grin slip from her lips. “Thanks, by the way. Never thanked you.” 

He waved it off. “It’s my job, Black.” 

“It’s your job to protect, but not to care,” she muttered. “I’m thanking you for caring.” 

“Look where it’s gotten me,” he huffed. “I’m going to have a heart attack before forty. Not because of Voldemort but because of a bloody sixteen-year-old girl.” 

“You’re welcome,” she grinned again, laughing as his eye twitched a little.

* * *

**November 4th, 1995**

**Potions Classroom**

Cassiopeia snickered as Umbridge did her review of Snape’s class, and the man in question had a suspicious look on his face that she’d only seen when she really annoyed him but was new to everyone else in the room. 

“You’re going to get in trouble with her, and you’re not even in her class right now,” Theo muttered to her, touching her arm in warning. She just shrugged in response and watched as the woman walked a circle around their Head of House and he stood straighter than she’d ever seen him, looking like he  _ really _ wanted to hex her. 

“Yeah, it’d be worth it though,” she replied quietly as she stirred their potion until it turned light blue. 

* * *


	15. Order

**November 9th, 1995**

**Hog’s Head**

“A  _ few people _ ,” Harry hissed in her ear as they entered the Hog’s Head. She shrugged lightly and offered smiles to everyone as the pair walked to the front of the room. 

“Hello!” she called, smiling at the group. “I asked you all to come here for one reason: we’ve got the worst fucking DADA teacher ever.”

“Maybe if you stopped picking fights with her,” Blaise called out. She directed a glare to her boyfriend before continuing. 

“So, I know we need a better one. We have to learn. If we don’t it could be dangerous, and it could cost us our lives.”

“Who says?” Seamus called. She fixed him with an angry glare. He’d been rather vocal with Ron about how he didn’t believe Harry and while Ron had defended him, it had pissed her off to no end. 

“ _ We _ say,” Theo told him, pointing to himself and Draco. “Not just Potter, but us. Our parents are his followers, after all.”

“Yeah, and who’s to say you’re not, too?” Someone called. Cassiopeia pinned the person - Justin - with a dark glare. 

“Leave them alone. They are not their parents.”

“Can we just… get back to the point?” Harry asked tiredly. “Look, we need to learn. Umbridge won’t teach us, so we’ve got no choice.”

“Oh, and you will?” Seamus asked. 

“ _ We _ will,” Cassiopeia corrected. “Harry’s got practice and I’m top of our class. I know plenty of advanced spells, too, and I’ve been looking through the Black and Potter family libraries for any not well known but useful spells we could use.”

“But how do we know we can trust you?” Seamus asked, looking between Cassiopeia and her friends. “You’re Slytherins.”

Cassiopeia stared. “Okay, well Voldemort does want me but he’s wanted to kill me since I was three months old, so I doubt he’s tripping over himself to recruit me. As for them… they might be stuck with their family but they’re not loyal to Voldemort."

“I trust them,” Harry added. “They’re good people.”

If a scowl could be heard, Draco scowled louder than ever before. 

“Okay, fine.”

“You’ll all have to sign this paper,” Cassiopeia mumbled, pulling out a charmed piece of parchment. “Just to keep track of who was here.”

* * *

**November 12th, 1995**

**Room of Requirement**

It was their third meeting, and Cassiopeia was shaking worse than before - so bad, in fact, that multiple students noticed the signs of torture, something she hadn’t expected. Her usual excuse of too much coffee and too little sleep did her no good now. 

“This is illegal!” Ginny yelled angrily, righteous tears in her eyes. “Fuck, Cassiopeia, she’s going to kill you!” 

“She’s trying,” she muttered. “Hasn’t yet, though.” 

“How many times?” Cho Chang asked her softly. She’d been surrounded by students she’d not gotten close to until the meetings, like Neville and Luna and Cho, and while she appreciated their concern, she just wanted to rest. 

“I don’t know,” she shrugged tiredly. “Enough. Snape’s trying to take some of the detentions for her, and he’s trying to find a way to put me in detention every night for the rest of the year."

“Merlin,” Neville gasped. “You’re going to let him do that?”

She frowned. “He’s trying to help me, Nev. He cares about me.” 

“I didn’t think that man was capable of caring for anything,” Katie Bell joked. 

“He cares for Draco, too,” Cassiopeia mentioned, glancing at the boy in question. They’d come to a truce after she cornered him and yelled at him for being a prat and he had been genuinely sorry, but now she was worried for him. He was increasingly stressed, and she just had a feeling it had to do with his father. She knew he’d been getting letters from the man, but none of them had made sense.

“Repeated exposure to the Cruciatus can do horrible things to you,” Neville told her softly. “Please be careful.” 

She smiled up at him. “I can handle it.” 

“Yeah,” Harry snarked, upset with her. “Obviously. But if you’d just let us tell Sirius-,”

“ _ No _ ,” she snapped loudly. “There’s a bloody good reason we aren’t telling him, Harry.” Cassiopeia looked out over the large group. “None of you can mention this to anyone but Snape. You’ll find that the contract you signed upon joining the group keeps you from mentioning anything you discussed in the DA to anyone outside of it without express permission from myself."

“ _ Contract _ ?” Susan repeated. “That was a contract?”

“Not a legal one but a magic one,” Cassiopeia nodded. “And I know that is despicable, but it isn’t illegal. You can check with your aunt. I asked her myself.”

“Damn it,” Hannah threw her head back. “If your aunt told her that, then it’s true.”

“Look, this is for our safety,” she explained. “It keeps us safe in the face of Umbridge. And I want you all to come to me right away if you get detention with Umbridge, okay? I might be able to get Snape to take it. I know no one really likes him, but at least he won’t physically harm you.”

“We will,” Cho agreed. “But will you be okay? Are you taking potions?”

“I’m doing everything I can,” she promised. “I’ll be okay.”

* * *

**December 20th, 1995**

**Potter Manor**

Harry had another dream, another vision. It had saved Arthur Weasley’s life. He’d been ordered to have Occlumency lessons with Snape, and that had… not gone well. Harry was  _ angry _ . Harry was angry and he didn’t know why. They’d gone back with the Weasley kids that night to be picked up by Sirius and taken to their own home. 

Harry had quickly holed himself up in his room and locked the door. Aside from that, he’d shoved his dresser in front of it to really get the message across that he wanted to be alone. Everyone decided it was best to respect his wishes, and they’d all gone to do their own thing.

Cassiopeia was in her bedroom, wrapping presents. That day and the next were, unfortunately, off days. It meant that she had to take a short break from pain potions and muscle relaxors to let her body rid her system of them. If she kept taking them without a break, she’d poison herself. She had tried to find another solution upon learning she’d be home during the break, but Snape hadn’t found anything for her. It led her to hiding away in her room and staying away from Sirius and Remus to the best of her ability. 

When she finished wrapping her gifts, she called for Mipsy. Unfortunately, the elf was busy shopping in Diagon Alley. When she remembered that, she let out a small, resigned sigh and gathered them in her arms. She made her way down the stairs to their main sitting room and pushed the gifts under the tree. Some of them went in a small, black box that looked a bit like a larger mailbox. When she put them in there, they were sent to her friends’ trees.

“Oh, dear,” Charlus said. Cassiopeia jumped and hit her head on the branch above her head. She let out a curse and backed up to look at him.

“What? Is something wrong?”

“You’re shaking horribly, dear,” Dorea confirmed. “Oh, my. What happened?”

“Shit,” she whispered, looking down. The more she moved, the more pain she was in and the more she shook. She’d hoped she could be quick enough that it wouldn’t worsen again. Apparently, it was too much to hope for. “I should get upstairs.”

“Dear, did someone hurt you?” Dorea asked her gently. She offered the woman a smile. 

“I didn’t tell Sirius, but I got hurt at school. I’m fine. I just tripped and fell down some stairs. I’m really okay. I just forgot to take my potions. I don’t want him to freak out and blame Snape or something.”

“Mm, he does enjoy trying to paint that boy as evil,” Charlus confirmed. “Take care of yourself, Cassiopeia.”

“I promise,” she smiled. She tossed the last gift under the tree and sped out of the room, breathing out quickly when she was finally in her bedroom again. Thankfully, they’d believed her lie. Perhaps being in Slytherin for so long had made her a better liar after all.

* * *

**December 27th, 1995**

**Grimmauld Place**

“You’re not even shaking,” Harry commented, poking her arm. Pain spread through the area and she shot him a glare. 

“Snape gave me a rare potion for the rest of the break. It took him until today to even find it. Not a permanent solution, but it’s something.”

“A permanent solution would be  _ telling him _ .”

Cassiopeia walked away, unwilling to have the same argument again. The kitchen was mostly empty so far, save for a redhead and a familiar Tonks. “Charlie! Tonks!””

“There you are!” Charlie grinned. He grabbed her in a big hug and spun her around. It took a lot of effort not to wince. “I heard you were around here somewhere.”

“I was trying to convince Harry to come,” she explained, bumping her brother’s shoulder. “He was hiding in his bedroom in Potter Manor.” 

“Glad to see you’re surviving Umbitch,” Tonks winked at her. “How’s school going?”

Cassiopeia grimaced. “I’d rather not discuss it.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“School is  _ torture _ .”

Harry coughed loudly and shoved her arm. “That’s not funny!”

“I mean, it kind of is,” she shrugged. “No, Umbridge just won’t stop giving me detentions. Snape takes as many of them as he can, but she can tell he’s taking mine on purpose.”

“Oh yeah, that Umbridge lady,” Charlie nodded. “I’ve heard some of the men complaining about her restriction on dragons.”

“It’s so nice to see you guys,” Cassiopeia shook herself, smiling brightly at her cousin and friend. “Are you joining the Order?”

“What do  _ you _ know about the Order for?” Charlie questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“We offered Grimmauld Place for meetings and Order business,” she shrugged. “Whether Dumbledore likes it or not, I’ll be at as many meetings as possible. Harry, too.”

“Sure, why not?” Tonks laughed. “Sirius wants me here and Kingsley suggested it, too.”

“I’ve got a permanent portkey to come to meetings,” Charlie added. “And since I’ve almost finished my training, I can pick where in the world I want to work. While being far, far away from our overbearing mother sounds nice, I also don’t want to be so far away while You-Know-Who is a danger to you guys.”

“Cas, do I really need to be here?” Harry complained. “I’d rather  _ read _ .”

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. “Sirius told me to make sure you’re here. Bring it up with him, he’s your godfather.”

“He’s yours, too!”

“Yeah, but he’s my brother,” she waved him off. “It’s different.”

“Where is everyone?” Harry asked, finally realizing how empty the room was. “I thought the meeting started at seven.”

“Snape’s upstairs,” Cassiopeia shrugged. “We were working earlier and I left him there to look through the library. Sirius and Remus- actually, I don’t know. They might have gone back to Potter Manor?"

“No,” Harry shook his head. “They weren’t there when you dragged me from my nice, comfortable room to this hellhole.”

“Aw, it isn’t that bad,” Charlie laughed. Cassiopeia, Harry, and Tonks all stared at him. 

“It is,” Cassiopeia disagreed. “Sirius won’t even let me in Regulus’s room because Walburga locked it up with some sort of dark magic that will kill the person who tries to enter. He can’t get it off. We think only she and Regulus would be able to and they’re both dead.”

“Don’t forget the elf heads,” Harry added with a shiver. “Creepy as fuck.”

“I can  _ feel _ it,” Tonks agreed. “I did some curse breaker training before going to the auror academy and this entire place is filled with some of the darkest magicks. I can see why they don’t like it here.”

“I told you I wasn’t exaggerating,” Sirius exclaimed upon entering the room with Remus. “I told you my mother fucked this place up!” 

“I never specifically disagreed,” Remus rolled his eyes. “I just said it wasn’t going to suck your soul out of you the second you stepped foot in here.”

“And I still disagree,” Sirius said firmly, glancing at Charlie. “I see you’ve met Harry and Cassiopeia. Who let you in?”

“Mum gave us the floo address,” Charlie explained. 

“Wait, hold on,” Harry shook his head at his sister. “What were you working on with Snape?”

She shrugged a little. “First Occlumency, but then I was telling him how frustrated I was that I couldn’t figure out how to teach everyone the targeted disillusionment charm, so he helped me with that and taught me a few other things to teach the DA. He’s actually a really good DADA professor. I don’t see why Dumbledore won’t let him take the position. Maybe since he’s worked here as potions professor, this curse wouldn’t bother him.”

“You  _ talk _ to him?” Charlie asked her in surprise. 

“Well, he saw the memory of me trying to show the DA the spell and asked me to explain my thought process, so when I did, he corrected me and helped me figure it out.”

“Padfoot, is the meeting going to start soon or can I go back home?” Harry asked, slowly getting more and more irritated. He’d been almost constantly annoyed, irritated, or just flat out angry in the past months, worrying everyone around him.

“Everyone is at the Burrow,” Sirius explained, patting his shoulder. “That’s why we came over. They should be here in just a minute. Cas, will you go grab Snape?”

Cassiopeia nodded and slipped away, ducking Charlie’s hand when he tried to mess up her hair. She took the stairs two at a time until she reached the second floor, which was entirely made up of the library. She had to turn a couple of corners before she caught sight of Snape with a book in hand. “What are you reading?”

Snape looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

“The meeting’s about to start,” she explained. He closed the book and got to his feet, leaving it on the table. They made their way downstairs in a comfortable silence, and she was surprised to find the kitchen almost completely full when they got there. Snape was stuck on her left as it was the only other seat left. Cassiopeia sat next to Sirius, and on Sirius’s other side sat Harry, looking irritated. Once everyone was seated, Dumbledore smiled out at them. 

“Thank you all for coming, and thank you, Sirius, for allowing us to use Grimmauld Place for meetings.”

“Gonna burn it when the war is over, anyway,” Sirius shrugged. He’d positioned himself at the head of the table purposely. It left Dumbledore sitting among the rest of the Order. It had the effect of making the man uncomfortable on top of subtly showing that Sirius was in control despite allowing Dumbledore to lead things. 

“Everyone here will receive an Order Mark at the end of tonight’s meetings if you do not already have one from the last war,” Dumbledore continued. Molly, however, interrupted him. 

“They’re just children,” she said, looking at Harry and Cassiopeia. “I know it’s not my choice, but they shouldn’t even be here.”

“Sirius has made it clear that they will be at many Order meetings,” Dumbledore reminded her with a kind smile. “And while I also disagree with the decision, it is out of our hands. If they’re a part of the meetings, they may as well take part in the oaths and be protected by the Mark as the rest of us are.”

“But they shouldn’t be part of the war!” 

Harry let out a short laugh. “Voldemort killed my parents and tried to murder me when I was a baby. He used my blood to bring himself back to life. I’m going to be involved, Misses Weasley.”

“He wants to murder me,” Cassiopeia shrugged. “So I’m a target, too.”

“So we should protect you!”

“They’re my godchildren,” Sirius interrupted. “I know what’s best for them, Molly. I don’t appreciate you doubting my decisions.”

“If we can get into it,” Dumbledore requested. “Firstly, the Ministry still refuses to admit that Voldemort is back. We are on our own. Amelia is unable to attend, but I hoped you could give us some information, Kingsley.”

Kingsley nodded slowly. “No Death Eaters have joined the Aurors yet. They are generally in the lawmaking positions of the ministry rather than law enforcement.”

“Do you know who has joined him?”

“A great deal of the old Death Eaters,” Kingsley began. “Dolohov, Travers, Pettigrew. It’s difficult to tell.”

“I can help,” Cassiopeia spoke up. Everyone looked at her and she rolled her eyes. “One of my best friends, my cousin, and my boyfriend are all children of Death Eaters. As far as I can tell, Theo’s father has  _ definitely _ joined. He had to have been aware something was going to happen last year because he attended the raid at the World Cup and kept Theo back. Blaise’s mum is looking for a way out, I know. Obviously, Lucius is in Azkaban, but he’s been sending Draco some worrying and nonsensical letters that make me pretty nervous. I’d say if he were free, he’d definitely be by Voldemort’s side.”

“Rodolphus took a Vow to never support Voldemort or his supporters ever again,” Sirius added. “I’d keep an eye on Crabbe and Goyle Seniors. They were twisted bastards back in the day. They enjoyed the torture, hurting people and killing. Voldemort will offer that to them.”

No one noticed Cassiopeia tense at his words as the conversation progressed. The meeting was, overall, rather short. They just didn’t have enough information on what Voldemort was doing to plan how to stop him. At the end of the meeting, Dumbledore did the oaths and marks. Everyone that had been in the room then had a small phoenix on the inside of their wrist, a reminder of the Order. More than that, though, it was a reminder of the war they were beginning to fight. The fact that Harry and Cassiopeia, still children, had the marks made quite a few people uncomfortable.

* * *

**January 1st, 1996**

**Potter Manor**

_ At midnight last night, Azkaban saw its second-ever breakout. This time, more than one prisoner escaped the dark prison. The list as of this morning of escaped prisoners was as follows: _

_ Augustus Rookwood _

_ Rabastan Lestrange _

_ Lucius Malfoy _

_ Henry Mulciber III _

_ Walden Macnair _

_ The DMLE is unaware of their location and is working hard to apprehend them once more.  _

“Shit,” Draco whispered, staring down at the paper as Cassiopeia read it over his shoulder. It was a small section in the back, almost like they hoped no one would notice it. “Fuck.”

“ _ Sirius _ !” Cassiopeia shouted, panic lacing through her voice. “Sirius!” 

The man in question ran into the room, his wand out. When he saw them sitting together on the couch, he cursed loudly. “Don’t do that! What’s wrong?”

Cassiopeia shoved the paper at him. She watched as he read over it quickly, his eyes widening slightly. 

“Okay,” he breathed slowly. “It’ll be okay. I’ll go see Amelia and see what we can do. You need to be careful at school and especially in Hogsmeade. I’ll make sure there are Aurors there on Hogsmeade weekends, but at least Rookwood is very sneaky.”

“They won’t catch him,” Draco informed them. “They won’t. He isn’t stupid. He won’t risk it. He’ll get somewhere safe and stay there.”

“We’ll figure it out. I promise.”

“Sure.”

* * *

**January 5th, 1996**

**Room of Requirement**

“This is outrageous!” 

“You didn’t even like him.”

“But he was better for this bloody school than this horrendous toad!” 

Cassiopeia paced back and forth in front of the replica of the Slytherin common rooms, a fire blazing nearby. They’d met in the Room of Requirement to talk, and she’d lost her temper very quickly. 

Daphne reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her down onto the couch. “You’re not going to change anything by wearing holes in the carpet.” 

“I’m not going to change anything, period!” She shot back. “She can do whatever the hell she wants now.” 

“There are more important things,” Draco told her with a sigh. “We’ve joined her Inquisitorial Squad.” 

“Good,” she sighed out in relief. “Some good news. I assume she’s still looking for the DA?”

“Yes, and she’s pretty serious about it,” Theo told her. “I’m worried about what’ll happen if she does find us.” 

“Nothing to you, because you guys have to stop coming, obviously,” she shrugged. “And you’ll keep her away from us. Practically no one knows about this room, so just keep her off our scent.” 

“We’ll try,” Daphne sighed. “Even Astoria joined.” 

“I thought she had given up on everything and wanted to move to Australia?” 

Her friend laughed. “Christmas with Luna did some good. She’s ready to get back into things, but she’s a little…”

“Hm?”

“I passed her in the hallway yesterday and she yelled ‘down with the patriarchy’ and sprayed me with pink glitter from her wand,” Draco answered her, looking annoyed. 

“Oh, so  _ that’s _ how that got there,” Cassiopeia laughed, picking at his hair until some glitter was visible in her fingers. “I thought you’d found a new hair routine.” 

“Never,” Blaise cut in. “Blasphemous.” 

“Apologies,” she grinned as Draco rolled his eyes at her. She smiled at him and tilted over to set her head in his lap and her feet in Blaise’s. “Good news, though, is that Fred and George talked to me and they’re going to make her life hell, too.” 

“They’ll just get detentions,” Daphne frowned. 

“Yeah, they would, but they’re not going to get caught. Besides, they said they’re leaving school to open their joke shop. Apparently, it’s been ready for a while. They were just waiting for the end of school, but they said they want to go out with a bang… I’m worried about what that means.”

“It means, have a shield up just in case,” Theo told her with a wink. 

* * *

**January 13th, 1996**

**DADA Classroom**

Cassiopeia writhed on the floor in pain. She’d been there for barely thirty minutes, and something felt different. The curse was lighter, and she knew Umbridge had something planned. Almost two hours in, the woman stopped. She was fighting to keep her eyes open, and couldn’t fight as something was poured down her throat. 

“What is your name?” 

“Cassiopeia Narcissa Black,” she ground out, and she knew what was happening. She knew what she’d drunk, and she knew she couldn’t let this happen. 

The Veritiserum encouraged her to talk, to tell all her secrets and she fought back hard. 

She pulled her hand up and sent a hex at herself. It hit her face, and she groaned. She did it again, and this time a slicing hex ran across her arm and neck. Blood dripped down immediately, and she whimpered in pain but continued. She sent hex after curse at herself until finally, she fell unconscious. 

* * *

Snape sat impatiently in his classroom, organizing his ingredients. The students always placed them out of order, a habit that drove him crazy. 

“Professor!” 

He turned to find a pale Theo rushing into his room with blood on his robes. “Nott.” 

“It’s Cassiopeia,” he said quickly. “Umbridge gave her Veritiserum and she hexed and cursed herself until she passed out.”

Snape cursed silently as he got to his feet. “Where is she?” 

“Umbridge went to bed, just left her there,” the boy said. “I only noticed because I saw her leaving the room, but I hadn’t seen Cassiopeia. She’s… she’s bleeding pretty bad.”

Snape nodded curtly and summoned a multitude of potions as he moved swiftly out of the room, running up six flights of stairs until he found the DADA classroom, and then Umbridge’s office. The door was open, and the light was on. He winced at the sight of a nearly lifeless Cassiopeia lying on the floor, broken. 

He did the best he could. She hadn’t sustained too many injuries, aside from the usual Cruciatus, but she had managed to cut herself up pretty bad, and he wasn’t sure how long she’d been bleeding for. From the looks of the floor, it had been a while. 

He managed to stitch up her neck and arm and give her two blood replenishing potions as well as pain potion. After that, he slowly healed all of the other injuries she’d caused herself and cursed her the entire time for always being in so much danger. 

Once she no longer ran the risk of dying, he picked her up and carried her to the Room of Requirement - something she’d told him about in excitement when they’d found it. Theo paced for him and made a room good enough, and he gently deposited her onto the bed. 

“Do not let her leave this room for at least a full day,” he instructed. “Give her a blood replenishing potion every two hours, and a pain potion every six. Come to me if anything changes.”

With that, he left the room to go find a very large glass of firewhiskey. 

* * *

**June 18th, 1996**

**Hogwarts Staircases**

Cassiopeia ran after Harry with Ron following her. “We need to tell Snape!” 

“There’s no time!” he replied. “He’s going to die, Cassiopeia.”

“What if he meant for you to see this?” She reasoned. “What if he only hurt Sirius because he’s trying to get to you?”

“What about you?” he snapped. “Doesn’t this matter to you? He’s your brother!” 

“Of course it does!” she sighed, rubbing her face with her hand. “Let me tell Snape. I’ll meet you near the DADA room in fifteen minutes.  _ Please _ .”

“Fine,” he agreed, running up the stairs. Looking down, she knew she didn’t have time to go down, find Snape and explain, and then make her way back up the stairs. So, she took a sharp breath and did something she knew she’d regret. 

She jumped over the edge of the stairs. 

The fall was the worst part. She’d always been horribly afraid of heights, and this only intensified that fear. Still, she pointed her wand down after she’d passed at least seven different floors. “ _ Arresto Momentum _ !” She slowed until she floated down and landed on her feet. She breathed out in relief, but someone grabbed her arm and pulled her away. 

“ _ Are you  _ trying _ to die now _ ?” Snape hissed at her angrily. She struggled a little to free herself from his hold and ripped her arm away. 

“Harry had another vision,” she said immediately. “He saw Sirius dying, and he wants to go after him. I- Professor, I convinced him to wait so I could tell you, but I’m going with him.” 

“You’ll be killed,” he told her sharply. She shook her head. 

“We don’t know if Sirius is really there or not, but… I won’t take that chance,” she sighed. “Please, alert the Order. We’re going.” 

She managed to run before he could react and raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time. It took her most of the little time she’d bought for herself to climb the stairs again, and she breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw Harry and Ron pacing impatiently. 

“Let’s go.” 

* * *

She wondered if she should be grateful that it was her in the chair and not Harry. Her hair tickled her cheek as she looked behind her. Draco, Theo, Daphne, and Blaise had all found Ginny, Luna, and Neville doing… something. She felt immense relief at the thought of her friends there together, just in case. 

“You were going to Dumbledore, weren’t you?” 

She raised an eyebrow. “Yes, you’ve discovered our secret affair. Oh, no, he’ll be ever so disappointed.”

She grit her teeth as Umbridge slapped her across the face. 

“You sent for me, Headmistress?” 

“Snape, yes,” Umbridge nodded. “More Veritiserum for Miss Black, please.” 

She bit the inside of her cheek as anxiety rolled through her. Snape glanced at her before looking back at Umbridge. “Unfortunately, you used the last of it the first time you tried to interrogate her. I’m afraid I can be of no help.” 

Cassiopeia wanted to call out to him as he turned and walked away, but she resisted and instead forced herself to stared directly at Umbridge. The witch turned to her desk and turned the picture of Fudge down, and her eyes widened. “So, torture again?” 

“You leave me with no choice,” Umbridge said. “This ought to loosen your tongue.” 

“Unlikely,” she muttered. The word was cut off as the spell hit her, and she screamed out in pain. She was tied to the chair this time, which made it even worse. She itched to writhe in agony, and she was stuck completely still. The spell cut off and began again, and she heard sobs join in with the screaming and wasn’t sure if they were hers or not. 

The curse ended abruptly, and she watched Umbridge drop to the ground. She looked up with wide, terrified eyes at Blaise, whose shaking hand held his wand out in front of him, looking just as scared as she was. 

There was silence in the room for a long moment, and she took the time to ground herself with some deep breaths. When she was done, she looked between her friends. “Aren’t any of you going to untie me?” 

Luna was the first to move, and she sliced the rope with her wand. “Your hair is very pretty.” 

* * *

“Department of Mysteries.” 

Cassiopeia pushed herself out of the elevator, surging forward with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Blaise, Draco, and Daphne behind her. Astoria and Theo had stayed behind to find a place to put Umbridge and to check with Snape to make sure the Order had been informed. 

The room was full of more glass balls than anyone could guess. They went on forever. There were no lights in the room, and Draco sent up a large ball of light to the ceiling to light it, but the ball just disappeared. The group lit their wands instead as they moved forward quietly. 

Finally, they reached row 95. 

It was empty. 

“He should be here!” he told them.

“Harry, it’s got your name on it,” Neville told him, staring up at a small glass ball. It was the only one that was lit up, and the swirls inside made Cassiopeia uneasy. 

Harry picked it up, and a familiar, raspy voice could be heard. 

“ _ The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches, and the dark lord shall mark him as his equal… but he shall have power the dark lord knows not… For neither can live while the other survives.” _

“Harry!” Cassiopeia gasped. There was a Death Eater in front of them, and she shoved Draco behind her, knowing it was useless but needing to do it all the same. Harry moved in front of the group and stood at her side, his wand out in front of him. 

“Where’s Sirius?” he demanded. 

“You know, you really should learn to tell the difference between dreams… and reality,” Lucius Malfoy said, waving his mask away with his wand. Cassiopeia felt her heart skip a beat at the sight, and she wished more than anything that Draco had stayed at Hogwarts. Lucius’s eyes fell on her, and then on the boy she was failing to conceal. “Draco…”

“Father,” Draco said, gently removing Cassiopeia’s hands from his arms and stepping between her and Harry. “Lovely meeting you here.” 

Lucius glared him down. “I knew you would be useless. Siding with the blood traitors-,”

“Pay attention,” a smooth voice instructed firmly. “He has chosen his side. We have a mission.”

“Hand me the prophecy,” Lucius demanded, his gaze shifting back to Harry. 

“You do anything to us, I’ll break it,” Harry replied instantly. 

“Rabastan Lestrange,” Neville said, taking a small step forward. 

“Neville Longbottom, is it? How’s mum and dad?”

“Better, now they’re about to be avenged,” he said, raising his wand. Harry and Cassiopeia both surged to stop him, and Lucius raised his hand cautiously. 

“Now, let’s everybody just calm down, shall we? All we want is that prophecy.” 

“Why did Voldemort need me to come and get this?” Harry asked. 

“You dare speak his name?” Rabastan whispered furiously, his wand coming up to point at him. 

“It’s alright, he’s just a curious lad, aren’t you?” Lucius told Rabastan, calming his anger before he answered Harry. “Prophecies can only be retrieved by those about whom they are made. Which is lucky for you, really. Haven’t you always wondered the reason for the connection between you and the Dark Lord? Why he was unable to kill you when you were just an infant? Don’t you want to know the secret of your scar? All the answers are there, Potter, in your hand. All you have to do… is give it to me.” 

“Get back,” Draco demanded. “He isn’t giving you anything.”

“I’ve waited fourteen years,” Harry said, gathering Lucius’s attention again. 

“I know.” 

“I guess I can wait a little longer,” he replied, taking a step back. “Now!  _ Stupefy _ !”

The fight was a dangerous one that took them through the large, expansive room. Prophecies fell from the shelves and the entire room came down, forcing them to run from the falling glass instead of the Death Eaters. When they reached the door they came in through, they fell down until they landed on dirt in a room that chilled Cassiopeia to the bone. 

“ _ Solis _ .” She looked around to find who was talking, but she felt the whisper coming from the dias at the middle of the room. As her friends spoke, she moved closer to the middle. “ _ Solis, I swear… _ ”

“Cassiopeia,” Blaise gasped, grabbing her arm. “Don’t.” 

“Can’t you hear…?” she frowned. 

“I can,” Harry nodded. “Can you tell what they’re saying?” 

“Solis,” she repeated. “It said, ‘Solis, I swear,’ but it sounded cut off, like part of a sentence.”

“I hear them, too,” Luna commented lightly. 

“Get behind me!” Harry yelled, looking away from the arch. 

It was no use. Black smoke confused them as one by one, Death Eaters grabbed them and stole them away across the room, leaving only Harry in the middle. Cassiopeia struggled against the man holding her, but he held her tight. Revulsion ran through her when he ghosted his fingers across her neck. “Let me go!” 

“No, no, sweetheart,” he whispered. “You’re staying right here with me.” He held her by her neck and she was forced to lean back, giving her a look of him. She recognized him. His short, dark hair and sharp, aristocratic features were somewhat surprising up close compared to across the Wizengamot hall.

“Dolohov.” 

“You know me,” he grinned. “I’d love to get to know you again.” 

She glanced at Harry to find him standing with Lucius. A grin broke out on her face as Sirius apparated in, and punched Lucius. 

“Yeah!” She yelled. She felt a tug and gasped as she was pulled backward. A few wards fell down, and she struggled against Dolohov. “Let me go!” 

“You’re not joining this fight,” he told her, his breath touching her neck. “I’d wanted a pet, and you’re  _ perfect _ .”

More people joined in the fight. She could see Tonks, Kingsley, and Moody, but she wasn’t sure who everyone else was, considering they were basically just light flying around and fighting. She itched to join the fight, or at least her friends, who Tonks was protecting after gathering them all together. 

A horrible sight caught her eye, and she felt helpless to it as Rabastan pointed his wand at Sirius. “No!” She screamed, throwing herself forward. Dolohov’s arms tightened around her painfully, and she squeezed her eyes shut, only to open them immediately after because as much as she didn’t want to watch, she had to see it. 

But it never came. An invisible force behind Rabastan knocked him to the ground, and Sirius continued fighting with Harry, unaware of the danger he’d avoided so narrowly. Cassiopeia sagged with relief as her only problem was getting away from the man holding her. 

Sirius threw Lucius back into the wall, and with that, all but Dolohov had been taken out. Sirius surged forward to check on Harry, and upon finding him fine, looked around the room. 

“Where is she?” he asked. There was a ripple in the air, and a disillusioned Blaise, who had escaped Tonks’ worried grasp, became visible, his concern clearly written on his face. “Did you see her?”

Cassiopeia could feel his breath on her neck and flinched when his tongue touched it. Revulsion flushed through her, and she wanted to scream.

“No, but I didn’t see Dolohov either, and he was here earlier.” 

“ _ Fuck _ .”

Cassiopeia took in a sharp breath and sagged in Dolohov’s arms. He jolted in surprise and tried to catch her, and she used the advantage to grab the back of his knee hard, hitting it so that he fell to the ground. She untangled herself from him and surged forward and out of the wards previously concealing her. She made it halfway to Sirius before she felt a curse dig into her side, dropping her immediately to the ground. She faded slowly out of consciousness as Blaise rushed over to her, and the last thing she saw was his scared face near hers. 

* * *

Dolohov turned immediately and ran out of the room into the atrium, and Harry chased after him, filled with anger. Sirius and Remus followed after while Blaise and someone else from the Order took care of Cassiopeia, but Harry paid them no attention as he chased the man. 

He threw a curse, a rather dark one that he’d read in a book, after him, and slowed as the man dropped to the ground. He approached with his wand out, pointed down at him. 

_ Do it, Harry. He deserves it. He hurt your sister. You know the spell, Harry. _

He breathed in sharply, staring down. He’d been so  _ angry _ over the past year, and seeing Cassiopeia be hurt like that… he just snapped. But staring at Dolohov, he wondered if he could really do anything to hurt him. 

Voldemort glided past him, all smoke and darkness as he goaded him on. Harry turned on his heel and tried to throw a curse at the monster, but it was immediately deflected as Voldemort shook his head in disgust. “So weak.”

Green flames lit up in the floo nearby, and he saw Dumbledore move out of it. Voldemort’s evil grin fell upon seeing the man, and Dumbledore walked forward with his wand out. “It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom. The Aurors are on their way.”

“By which time I shall be gone, and you… shall be dead.”

Voldemort moved his arm in an arc, and Dumbledore shoved Harry out of the way as he raised his own wand. Harry’s head hit the cold tile, and he saw the green flame of Dolohov disappearing from the Ministry. 

The battle raged on, and Harry was just trying to stay alive throughout. Dumbledore protected him well, and in the end, Voldemort was forced to retreat. 

But not before Fudge and the Aurors had arrived. 

And certainly not before possessing Harry. 

* * *

**June 21st, 1996**

**Hogwarts Infirmary**

Cassiopeia woke to Sirius sitting on one side of her bed and Snape on the other. She’d been placed in a medically induced coma as they drained her core almost completely so that they could remove the magic eating curse that Dolohov had sent at her. The coma was so that she had time to recover, for her core to recover before the shock of waking. 

“Fuck,” she muttered, a hand flying to her head. “My head hurts.” 

“Back to normal, then,” Snape drawled. 

“Professor,” she blinked her eyes open slowly, wincing slightly at the bright lights. 

“Cassiopeia,” Sirius gasped, leaning forward in his seat to grab her hand. “Oh, thank fuck.” 

“And to think I thought that perhaps she’d be discouraged from such language at home,” Snape rolled his eyes at his old classmate. 

“What happened?” Cassiopeia asked softly as she tried to think of the last thing she could remember, the first thing she did any time she woke up after passing out. 

“You were hit with a nasty curse,” Sirius told her gently. “We don’t know much more than that.” 

The battle of the DOM played through her mind and she let out a soft gasp. “Dolohov. He was going to-  _ shit _ ,” she breathed, wincing. 

“What is it?” Snape asked her. 

“He wanted to… take me,” she winced. 

“Ah, shit,” Sirius cursed. “He’s a nasty man. He’s the one that cursed you?” 

She nodded a little. “The battle was ending and everyone was leaving, and I think he was getting ready to take me out of there, so I had to leave. I managed to get away from him, but he cursed me. That’s the last thing I remember.” 

“Mister Zabini got to you,” Snape told her. 

“Is he-,”

“He and all of your friends are fine,” he confirmed. “Though they’ve been banned from the Infirmary for bothering you while you recover.” 

“I’m not very surprised.” 

“You’ll be coming home with me tomorrow,” Sirius explained. “You were already dismissed from your end of year classes.” 

“Okay,” she agreed quietly. As much as she wanted to argue and finish out the school year, she also knew she was still extremely exhausted and probably needed as much rest as possible. “Sirius, can you get Harry, Draco, and Blaise for me?” 

“Sure, kitten,” he agreed, getting to his feet. “If you need to sleep, though, just go back to sleep.” 

“Yeah.” When he was gone, Cassiopeia turned her eyes to Snape. “You’re worried.” 

“He is a very… obsessive man,” Snape confirmed. “And his curse could have killed you.” 

“Should I be worried?” 

“I think you have reason to be worried about a great many things,” he confirmed softly. “You have no sense of self-preservation.” 

“So Dolohov grabbing me was my own fault?” she asked, offended. 

“Not at all,” he disagreed, looking like he had a headache. “But you have a dangerous group of friends considering their parents.” 

Cassiopeia bit her lip, looking at the man in front of her. “Is it not safe to contact you anymore?” 

“I will let you know if it ever reaches that point,” he shook his head. “In emergencies, a Patronus should always be safe. If you ask them too, only the person you’re sending it to will see and hear it.” 

“Oh.” 

“You should continue training over the holidays,” he instructed. “Black was a… talented hit wizard. Have him train you and your friends.” 

“No Occlumency this summer?” 

“There will be. Next week as long as you are up for it.” 

“Thank you, Professor… for everything.” 

“Thank me by not dying,” he scowled. “Now.”

“Oh no,” she muttered, watching as he prepared himself for the conversation ahead. 

“I am glad you are not dead.” 

She tilted her head in confusion. “Thank you?” 

“But I am furious with you,” he continued. She was unsure if she should feel grateful that he was openly talking about himself and his emotions or uncomfortable because… she’d pissed him off. “For risking your life in such a reckless manner. You are not a Gryffindor, and you know better.” 

She sighed a little. “Harry was going to go either way. It was either that, or he go alone and possibly die.” 

“In the battle, did you save his life?” 

She hesitated. “I’m unsure.” 

“I am certain that Mister Potter could have handled himself without you. You, however, apparently need constant help, or you’ll get yourself killed.” 

“I resent that.” 

“You know it’s true,” he told her. “I have… grown attached to you, against my better judgment, and it is increasingly hard to keep you alive.” 

“Yeah, but I  _ am _ alive,” she replied. “And I’m attached to you, too, Professor Snape.” 

“If you die in this war, I will be very upset with you.” 

“Noted.” She smiled at him. “If  _ you _ die, I’m gonna be really pissed off, too.” 

He rolled his eyes. “I am a spy, Miss Black. There is always the chance I will die.” 

Her smile slipped from her lips. “I’m… I’m serious. Please don’t die.” 

He looked at her, surprised by the vulnerability in her voice. “I will do my best.” 

“Good, cause if you die, I’m gonna tell everyone how much of a softie you are.”

His eye twitched, and she laughed. 

* * *


	16. Veil

**June 21st, 1996**

**Grimmauld Place**

“How was the rest of school?” Harry asked Daphne, who sighed in response. 

“Tiring. If I had to choose between my favorite rumors that started, it would probably be the one where you ran off with Cassiopeia to elope like muggles.” 

“Ew,” Harry and Cassiopeia winced together, earning laughs from just about everyone around them. 

“Didn’t you  _ start _ a rumor where Cassiopeia killed Harry when he kissed me during the battle?” Blaise asked with an amused grin on his lips. 

“Yeah, that one was fun,” Daphne laughed. 

“You’re incorrigible.” 

“I was  _ bored _ ,” she shot back. 

“Not to interrupt,” Sirius laughed at them. “But I did invite you over for a reason.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Well, not you,” he waved at Daphne and Astoria. “They just missed you two.”

“But not as much now that I know you fed the rumor mill,” Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow at Daphne. “You have to tell me all the horrible things people said later.”

“We will.”

“Blaise,” Sirius said when no one paid him any attention. “You’ve said your mother isn’t interested in joining Voldemort again. Does that put you in danger?”

“It depends on if Voldemort ever thinks he needs her,” Blaise said slowly. “For now, it isn’t much of an issue, but if he ever decides he needs her money or power, it will be.”

“Is she interested in joining the Potter Alliance?”

“She is.”

“Then you can both come to an Alliance meeting this weekend,” he told the boy. His gaze shifted to Theo and he frowned. “I’m not sure what to do about you.”

“I’ll be fine,” he promised. “Father doesn’t want me to become a Death Eater.”

“If you need any help, come to us,” Sirius requested. “You’re one of Cassie’s best friends and we take care of the people we love.”

“Thank you.”

* * *

**June 23rd, 1996**

**4 Privet Drive**

Theo and Cassiopeia stood side by side in front of the brown door. It had been a hard decision to go and even harder to go without Harry. Theo had been  _ very _ against going without telling anyone, but he’d given in when she reminded him how many people were likely to beat the shit out of the entire family. With a deep breath, they knocked.

The door opened a minute later and Cassiopeia felt like she’d been punched. Dudley stood there staring at her in confusion. 

“Who are you?”

“Can we come in?” Theo asked when she was unable to reply. “We need to talk to your parents.”

“About  _ what _ ?” 

Cassiopeia did her best to disguise her voice before she spoke, making it a bit deeper. “Possible repayment for the years they had Harry and Belle Potter. Their godfather sent us.”

“Oh,” Dudley blinked. “Yeah, sure.”

They walked in the house behind him quietly. He led them to the sitting room and made his way to the kitchen to get his parents. While he was gone, Theo touched her arm. 

“Hey, what was that? Are you okay?”

“Before I left, he attacked me,” she reminded him softly. “Remember the blood? It’s just difficult.”

Petunia and Vernon hurried into the room with Dudley behind them, eyes wide. 

“We’re sorry to keep you waiting,” Petunia smiled at them. “Dudley says you’re here on behalf of the twins’ godfather?”

“We are,” Cassiopeia said slowly. She had a plan forming as she spoke and it had to be handled perfectly. “He would like to repay you for the money you spent caring for them. He’s a very wealthy man, you see, and very important in our world."

“Good,” Vernon nodded firmly. “We deserve it. They were very difficult.”

“Why was he unable to take them before?” Petunia wondered, looking a little suspicious. Cassiopeia smiled. 

“It was very unfortunate. He was incorrectly blamed for the death of your sister and her husband. He was proved innocent. I believe you’ve met him? Sirius Black.”

Petunia stiffened. “We met. Lily brought him to our wedding.”

“Whatever the case, he got custody of them as soon as he possibly could,” she assured them. “There were some issues with Belle, but she’s where she belongs now. Sirius wanted to repay you for keeping them…. Safe and happy.”

“How much? They were quite difficult,” Vernon reminded her. 

“Three million a piece,” she smiled brightly. “We just need to confirm that you are their family. I know you dislike magic, but it requires a small, quick spell. Your neighbors won’t notice, and as soon as it’s over, magic will be out of your lives forever.”

“What will it do?” Petunia asked her. The woman’s voice shook, with fear or excitement, Cassiopeia was unsure. 

“Just confirm your identity,” Theo assured them. “It’s quick.”

“Why are you so young?” Dudley asked, eyeing them. “You’re like my age.”

“She looks just like him,” Petunia told her son. “She’s probably related to their godfather.”

“I am,” Cassiopeia confirmed. “I’m his sister and this is my friend, Theo. Since I’m the Heir to our House, I sometimes take care of official business like this. Sirius was certain you wouldn’t want to see him, so he sent us.”

“This spell won’t hurt you or even do anything, really,” Theo spoke up. “Like she said, it’s just a confirmation.”

“But we are who we are,” Dudley frowned. “Why wouldn’t we be? How would you not know?”

“Magic,” Theo explained. “There is a potion that can make you look like a different person. There are spells to do the same thing. There are even prank products that can do it. Sirius just wants to make sure this money ends up in the right hands."

“Go ahead,” Vernon nodded firmly. “You can do it but nothing else!” 

“Of course,” Cassiopeia smiled. “You might get a bit dizzy, so I suggest you all sit down.”

Once they were seated, she stood in front of Dudley and Theo in front of Petunia. They cast the same spell at the same time and did their work quickly - they didn’t care to let the memories be recovered, so using Obliviation, they removed every memory of magic, Harry, Cassiopeia, Lily, Sirius, James, and any other magical person they might’ve met from their minds. 

The trouble came when Cassiopeia finished early and Theo was still working on Petunia, mostly because she had so many years of memories compared to her son. Dudley wavered a little and blinked a few times before his eyes opened again, much sooner than Cassiopeia had intended. She’d hoped she could get to Vernon first, but she hadn’t been able to practice the spell, so she’d had no chance. 

“Who are you?”

“What? Dudley, they’re here to give us money,” Vernon reminded him. When he just blinked in confusion, the man’s eyes grew to the size of golfballs and his face turned dark purple. Cassiopeia barely had time to prepare before he let out an angry roar and lunged at her, grabbing her by the throat.

* * *

Theo  _ finally _ finished wiping Petunia’s memories and he slipped out of her mind to find a horrifying sight. Behind him, Cassiopeia was on the floor. Vernon was standing over her with one hand on her throat and the other holding a broken lamp with blood on it. He barely spotted the blood on her leg from where he’d cut her. Theo raised his wand just as Cassiopeia fell unconscious and hit the large man with every spell he could think of to incapacitate Vernon. He waved the man off of his friend with his wand and grabbed onto her. As much as he wanted to get them out of there immediately, he also knew that leaving Vernon with memories of magic and his family without was dangerous. 

It took him another ten minutes - after stunning Petunia and Dudley when they started shouting at the sight before them - to remove Vernon’s memories. Once he had finished, he removed a few of the charms on him, grabbed Cassiopeia in his arms, and used their portkey to take them back to Potter Manor.

* * *

**July 1st, 1996**

**The Wizengamot**

Cassiopeia tapped her foot anxiously as they waited for the doors to open. They’d already been waiting for ten minutes as the Ministry officials got in place before the family seats were allowed in. When they took their seats, she tugged at her robes. She’d been jittery and anxious since seeing the Dursleys. While Theo had agreed not to tell anyone what happened, she’d had issues keeping it a secret. Snape had nearly found out when he showed up for a forgotten Occlumency meeting. She’d had to cancel for fear he’d find out and yell at her. 

That meeting, a great deal of the family was there. They were announcing the House of Zabini joining the Alliance, as well as the Tonks, who did have some power and money since they were officially part of the House of Black again. Andromeda had taken one of the Lestrange seats while the rest went to Narcissa and the House of Longbottom. More than that, Harry was being named Lord Potter at that session since he would be old enough by the end of the month. 

“Oh my god,” Cassiopeia breathed, catching sight of a man who was staring at her from across the room. “He’s still allowed in here?” 

Sirius followed her gaze and froze at the sight of Dolohov. “They can’t use memories as official evidence in anything less than an unforgivable or murder.” 

“So there’s no way to prove he was there,” she concluded, biting her lip and looking away. “Got it.” 

“He won’t touch you,” Sirius assured her. “I’ll kill him first.”

“Dumbledore is here,” Daniel muttered to them when the old man finally entered the hall. 

She’d never liked the old man. He had far too much interest in Harry, and not nearly enough in her. He’d made it clear he didn’t want to help her or let anyone help her. More than that, she knew Dumbledore very easily could’ve given Sirius a trial or even pardoned him fully. She even wondered if he could’ve saved James and Lily from their deaths. She had a feeling he could’ve done a lot.

And despite the way he seemed to pick and choose who he helped and why, so many of the Light still saw him as some sort of infallible, perfect grandfatherly figure that could fix everything.

Cassiopeia didn’t.

Dumbledore began the session and they got to work. The Black family had nothing to announce, and there were very few Family announcements in general, so when they reached Potter, they began.

“The Potter Alliance has an announcement,” Penbrook announced, looking to Daniel. 

“We will be accepting the House of Zabini and the family Tonks into the Alliance,” he announced. They had more prospective members, but so far, everyone seemed to be trying to figure out who would have the most power, so they waited. 

“Acknowledged,” Dumbledore nodded. Truthfully, the announcement was a big deal. As silent as the room was, it was shocked. Elora Zabini had officially announced that she would not be joining Voldemort again. The man - or monster - himself would hear about it and surely be furious, which was why Sirius had offered to let them stay in Potter Manor until the end of the war or until they could find another place just as safe. 

Penbrook looked down and raised an eyebrow. “The House of Potter has also added to the books an edit of their House. Harry James Potter has taken up Lordship of the House.”

“He’s sixteen!” Avery yelled angrily. “He’s still a kid!” 

“It is legal,” Harry spoke up. “At sixteen, it’s legal. And none of your business, so shut up.”

Cassiopeia’s lips twitched. Harry probably should’ve learned how to  _ not _ react to things the way Sirius did, but they could work on that some other time. 

Still, they kept arguing with Dumbledore as if the man could change it. Sirius’s temper was short, and he shot to his feet and used the  _ Sonorus _ charm so they’d all hear him. 

“Respectfully, this is a House matter and therefore, all of you can fuck off because it’s none of your damn business!”

“...language,” Penbrook muttered tiredly. 

“Recognized,” Dumbledore called while Sirius canceled his charm. 

“Lord Sirius Black has named Remus Jacob Lupin as regent for the House of Black.” 

“He’s a werewolf!” someone yelled. 

“And you’re an asshole,” Cassiopeia shouted back, earning herself a few glares. “It’s perfectly legal now. The law against it was repealled three months ago.”

“As always, these are House matters. For the purpose of keeping the community informed, we announce them here, but they are never up for discussion,” Dumbledore explained. “If Sirius wishes to make Mister Lupin the Regent for his House, that is his decision and we cannot do anything about it.”

“ _ Thank you _ ,” Sirius breathed out in a hiss.

“Recognized,” Dumbledore nodded at Sirius. 

From there, the session went onto lawmaking. It was another three hours before they called a recess due to the arguments that broke out when Goyle Sr tried to propose a new law that would once more prevent werewolves from working for Ancient and Noble Houses. It had been thrown out in the end, but not before an extensive and fury filled fight.

Cassiopeia made her way out of the room to pace down the hall, desperate to burn some of her energy. She’d been desperate to move through the entire meeting, and she’d promised her family she’d meet them for lunch in a few minutes. She needed a bit of peace and quiet before she had to sit again. 

As she neared the end of the hall, she froze. 

“ _ Solis… _ ”

It was that voice again, the one that she’d heard before. Against her best judgment, she walked down further and opened the door. The room sucked her in like a vacuum and she gasped in surprise as she fell, a familiar feeling. Her fall stopped just before the ground, where she was promptly and somewhat painfully deposited on the dirt. She still had a great deal of pain from Umbridge’s Crucio, so any sudden jolts hurt badly. 

When she got to her feet, she felt her breath leave her, recognizing the room she was in. 

“No,” she whispered, looking around. When her eyes fell on the arch in front of her, she heard it again.

“ _ Solis, I promise… _ ”

She took a step forward, then another one, then another, until she was up on the platform the arch stood on. 

“Dangerous thing, that is.” 

Cassiopeia spun around and backed up at the feeling of breath on her neck and the whisper in her ear. When she reached for her wand, she found it missing and realized Dolohov must’ve grabbed it from her back pocket. She’d been forced by the Wizengamot guards to give up her daggers for the meeting, and it left her empty-handed against the man. 

“Get away from me.”

“It’s like you wanted me to come after you,” he laughed. “Showing up at the Wizengamot, family or not, is dangerous. Then you walked away from all of them, anyone to protect you, and came  _ here _ where it’ll be so easy for me to fake your death.” 

Cassiopeia felt her nerves hitch. She didn’t know all that much wandless magic and certainly not enough to save her from Dolohov. 

“What is it?” she asked, hoping she could keep him talking long enough for someone to save her. “You work down here, right?” 

“Oh, you know me,” he grinned ferally. “I do. We don’t know much about this arch here. Can you hear anything?”

“‘Solis,’” she whispered, repeating the words. “‘Solis, I promise…’”

“That’s one of your relatives,” he told her, walking around her in a circle, stroking her hair gently. The feeling gave her shivers. “One of the Blacks.” 

“What is it, though?” 

“We aren’t sure,” he admitted. “It’s called the Veil of Death. Someone suggested these are the voices of the dead while someone else believes they’re the voices of the lost. One thing we do know, however…” 

“What?” she asked nervously, taking a step back when he moved closer. 

“Anyone that goes through there never comes back.” 

“Get away from me,” she said again, putting her left leg behind her to steady herself. “Don’t touch me.” 

“I’m going to do a lot more than touch,” he laughed. When he reached for her, she shoved her hands out in front of her and focused all of her magical energy outward to blast him away from her. It worked, but it also drained her core so much so that she found herself falling to the ground. When she hit her head on the stone, she raised her hand to touch it, feeling the blood on her fingers.

She pushed herself into a sitting position as he came back to her and repeated what she’d done before, this time tossing him to the other side of the room, where she saw him hit his head and crumple to the ground before she wavered, falling backward into the veil behind her. It enveloped her entirely, pulling her away and tearing at her body as she traveled, leaving only her blood on the stone where she’d been moments before. 

* * *

**December 10th, 1979**

**Potter Manor**

Cassiopeia screamed in agony as she dropped to the floor beneath her hard, rolling with it even as the veil had ripped at her skin and the head injury she already had. She could feel blood dripping from herself, and she longed to move, to check her surroundings or even just open her eyes and pull her wand, but she was stuck, fear and anxiety filling her. 

“Shit,” a man’s voice cursed loudly. A hand fell on her arm. She winced and forced her eyes open and did her best to push herself away. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

Cassiopeia shook her head and waited for her eyes to focus. For whatever reason, she was really out of it and it felt almost as if she’d just woken up after a long, deep sleep. When her eyes did focus, she froze at the sight in front of her. 

“How’d you get in here?” he asked her, taking in the sight of her injuries. When their eyes met, she saw recognition pass through him just as it had through her. “You’re a Black. We’ve never met, how- who are you?”

“I don’t- I can’t be here,” she whispered, mostly to herself. “I have to go. I need to leave now.”

“You’re hurt,” he disagreed. “What happened? How did you get in here?”

“I’m not hurt that bad,” she assured him. She was in Potter Manor, she knew that much. She grabbed onto the coffee table next to her and pulled herself to her feet with great effort. He wrapped an arm around her and helped her move to the couch nearby. “I just- I need to go. I can’t be here with- with you and-,”

“So you know me?” he asked. The door opened and she looked over to find a woman with red hair walk in, staring down at the book in her hands. 

“Did you know what dark magic can do to infants?” she asked without looking up. “He’s right to be worried, James. This is terrifying. We’re lucky he didn’t turn into a monster just from the exposure to it as a child."

“Lils,” James spoke up, gathering her attention. Lily froze upon spotting Cassiopeia bleeding on the couch. 

“Oh my god,” she gasped. She hurried over to them with a small frown. “Who are you?”

“I can’t,” she shook her head. “What’s the date?”

“December 10th,” Lily answered her. Cassiopeia hesitated. 

“And the year?”

James and Lily exchanged a look as James replied. “1979.”

Panic filled her once again. “I need to leave.”

“Start with telling me how you got here,” James requested. “Lily’s a healer, so she can heal you up.”

“No, I just- I need some potions,” Cassiopeia shook her head tiredly. “I’ll find them when I get back. But if I go back… would I just end up in the DOM again? Or be here still?”

“Department of Mysteries?” James frowned at her. “What were you doing down there? You’re like sixteen.”

“It was a Wizengamot meeting,” she explained to them. “And we’d been fighting for hours and I just… needed a break, so I took a walk and I ended up in the Veil Room  _ again _ because I heard- but Dolohov followed me and he was going to- but he took my wand and I only know so much wandless magic, so it knocked me out fighting him and I think I fell into the Veil and I’m here with… with you.”

“Are you from a different time?” Lily asked plainly. When Cassiopeia stared at her with wide eyes, she shrugged. “You haven’t done the best job of hiding it.”

“I need to leave,” she said yet again. “I can’t be… here… what did you say the date is?”

“December 10th, 1979.”

Cassiopeia grabbed onto the arm of the couch when she got a little dizzy. She knew that date. Better yet, she knew the date three days from then and she knew what was happening. Suddenly, she knew why she was there. “Oh.”

“Who are you?” James asked her gently. 

“If it’s time travel, we can remove our memories of it,” Lily assured her. “We just want to help you.”

“I’m not great at a refined  _ Obliviate _ ,” she admitted. “I’ve only cast it once.”

“We can get Mum and Dad to help us or Sirius,” James offered. Cassiopeia’s eyes widened. 

“Sirius… is he-,”

“He’s out,” Lily shook her head. “You know him?”

“Shit!” James exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “Lily, we know her! I knew we did!”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Lily scowled. “We do not.”

“What year are you from?” James asked her. Cassiopeia hesitated. 

“1996.”

“She’s sixteen and clearly a Black,” James waved at her. “Come on, Lily. She was here a few weeks ago!”

“Oh my god,” Lily’s eyes widened dramatically. “Cassiopeia?”

Cassiopeia nodded a little. “Everything is really complicated. I know a lot about a lot of things and I shouldn’t- I shouldn’t be here.”

“What do you know? You’re sixteen.”

Cassiopeia glanced at Lily. “You’re pregnant.”

“You know him?” Lily asked, glancing down at her stomach despite the fact that she wasn’t showing yet. 

Cassiopeia nodded. “He’s my… I love him a lot.”

“Ew, are you dating?” James screwed up his face. Cassiopeia made a face of disgust and truthfully felt a bit nauseous at the suggestion. 

“No! God, that’s disgusting. It’s just- I can’t really explain it because it has to do with your personal futures.”

“You don’t seem damaged like Sirius was,” James told her bluntly, earning himself a smack from Lily. “What I mean is that you don’t seem like you were raised the same way."

“I wasn’t actually raised by Orion or Walburga. I was adopted by another wizarding family and they’re both dead. I never met them, not when I can remember.”

“How do we help you?” Lily asked her after a quiet moment. 

“I don’t… know,” she shook her head slowly. “I don’t know what the Veil does. Dolohov didn’t even seem to know from what I could get him to tell me. I’m obviously not dead, and I think I got pulled to my family, which makes sense, but I don’t know how to get back. Sirius is going to lose his shit. He’s going to kill Dolohov. Shit, he’s gonna go to Azkaban.  _ Fuck _ ."

“Hey, we’ll figure everything out,” James assured her. Lily nodded along.

“Since our memories will be removed about you, tell us anything you can. We want to help you.”

“Okay…”

“Try starting with the family thing. What family were you brought to?”

Cassiopeia looked between them as it really sunk in. She took in a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. In a few days, Regulus is going to die.”

“Oh, no,” Lily gasped, her hand coming to cover her mouth. “Oh, poor Sirius.”

Cassiopeia nodded. “Remus told me that Sirius got… really drunk. He was a mess. But a few days after Regulus… Orion fakes my death and you agreed to adopt me. I became Belle Potter. I looked just like you.”

Lily smiled softly. “I wanted a daughter.”

“Merlin,” James muttered, running his fingers through his hair. “How did that work? Where did everyone think you came from?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “In the note that Orion left for Sirius in the file, it said that his memories were permanently changed. That means he knew you adopted me. When Harry is born, you guys, Orion, and fucking Dumbledore make sure that everyone in the wizarding world think that I was Harry’s twin sister. Some things happened and I was sent to live with Petunia and Vernon and- and their son."

Lily’s eyes lit up angrily. “They hate magic! They can’t have you! Petunia was horrible to me, I can’t imagine how awful she’d be to- oh god, are you okay? Did she- what did she do?”

Cassiopeia smiled softly at the woman’s motherly anger. “They weren’t great, but before my fourth year, Sirius discovered who I am and got custody of me. We knew I was adopted because we were opening up Potter Manor from the death Fidelius and Sirius had us help, thinking I was a Potter by blood. So-,”

“Oh, Merlin,” James winced. He looked her over as if her injuries were from the wards and not the recent fight. “Are you okay?”

“Sirius sliced his bloody arm open,” she screwed up her face. “The wards didn’t take long to release after that, but he figured it out then. There were some other… inconsistencies that made us rather confused, and my being adopted made a lot of sense.”

“We’re not around,” Lily said softly. “We can’t be. I’d  _ never _ let you go to Petunia. We’d love you just like we love Harry and we’d protect you like our own- you  _ are _ . We’re not… alive.”

Cassiopeia shook her head and looked away. “There’s a lot of things I wanted to ask you guys. Harry deserves it more, I know, but-,”

“No, he doesn’t,” James interrupted her with a deep frown. “If we adopted you, it means you’re ours. Our daughter just as much as he will be our son. You both deserve answers and love and safety.”

“You couldn’t answer my questions, anyway,” she shook her head. “It hasn’t happened yet. It hasn’t been long, so it’s not like you’ve written your wills to include Harry yet.”

“We have,” Lily disagreed. “As soon as we found out. Why?”

“I wasn’t… on the will,” she explained slowly. “So when Sirius was finally in the position to get custody of us and we found your wills, Harry was the only one on it. I wasn’t mentioned. Harry got to leave thankfully, but I was stuck with them for part of that summer. Sirius got me out when he figured out who I am, though. I just… don’t understand.”

“Well, that’s easy,” James shook his head. “We’ll have a will drawn up immediately.”

“You can’t change time,” Cassiopeia shook her head in a hurry. “It could change anything.”

“What would be changed, logically, if we took more care to write up a new will immediately?” James asked her. She considered it and thought over what had happened at the Dursley’s that summer. Nausea rolled through her and she looked away from them.

“Only a few things.”

Lily frowned. “Anything important?”

“Nothing that shouldn’t be changed,” Cassiopeia elaborated. “Nothing I want to stay the same.”

“So we’ll do that,” James nodded firmly. “I mean it. We wouldn’t adopt you and then not love you. We love you already. You spent a few weeks here when Sirius brought you.”

“He told me,” she nodded quietly. Her mind drifted to the date once more and she squared her shoulders and stood shakily. “I need to go. I have something to do.”

“Not changing time,” Lily frowned at her in concern. She shook her head.

“I said Regulus dies. I don’t know him. Sirius has nothing to tell me about him and my only other source of information didn’t actually tell me much at all.”

“Who on earth would you have access to that’s close with Regulus?” James blinked at her. Cassiopeia looked between them.

“I’m not sure I want to say. I’m aware of the… bad blood between you,” she nodded at James before looking to Lily. “And the hurt with you. I will say, though, that Remus suggested I ask him.”

“Snape,” James narrowed his eyes. She looked at him in surprise and he scoffed. “There’s no one else to fit that description. What the hell are you doing with Snape? He’s dangerous!”

“Not to me,” she told him firmly. “He’s kept me safe for six years. When Dumbledore invaded my mind, he healed it and began teaching me Occlumency.”

“Severus is a skilled Legilimens,” Lily said softly, looking pained. 

“He’s a Death Eater,” James said plainly. “He’s killed someone before.”

“So have I.”

The couple looked between each other and back at her. 

“There was a battle in the ministry recently,” she explained. “Someone was about to hurt my friend Draco, so I killed him. Sirius told me about Snape. He told me that he did a lot of things he regrets and that he fell in with bad people. He’s not a bad person. If he was, he wouldn’t have helped me. He wouldn’t have helped Harry, who looks just like you.”

“He’s dangerous,” Lily told her reluctantly. Cassiopeia shrugged. 

“I know he is, but I’m dangerous too. I need to find a wand, but I can protect myself. I need to- I have to meet him at least once.”

“Let us know as soon as you find him,” Lily demanded. Cassiopeia nodded in a hurry. 

“We’ve got some family wands,” James sighed, running his fingers through his hair in the same way that Harry always did. He waved his wand silently and grabbed the box when it flew through the air. He opened it for her and she looked over the wands curiously. “You can borrow one. Just put it back in the box the next time you’re here.”

Cassiopeia did as he said and tested a few wands. The one she picked belonged to Ursula Black, Dorea’s grandmother. She tucked it in her pocket and went to move. Pain laced through her body and she let out a hiss. “My potions wore off completely…”

“Which potions?” Lily asked. “We’ll get them for you.”

“Um, an extra strength pain potion, a muscle relaxer, and maybe a calming draught,” she listed. At the concerned looks she got, she waved them off. “Recent battle,” she lied. “I’ll be fine.”

Lily nodded and left the room to go find the potions for her. They didn’t have the muscle relaxer there, so she had to run to the apothecary quickly, leaving her to wait impatiently for her return. 

“Will you tell me about it?” James asked her curiously. At her hesitation, he smiled. “Nothing you don’t want to. Something good.”

Cassiopeia considered his request. “Harry and I are in Slytherin.”

“I said good!” 

She let out a small laugh. “Hold on. Some of our best friends include the Greengrass girls, Nott’s son, Elora Zabini’s son, and Narcissa’s son. They’re all in Slytherin with us. When we found out about Remus, I tried to get in contact with him, but Dumbledore had placed a mail block between Harry and I and Remus, Sirius, and Snape that I know of. So my friend Daphne decided to intervene and wrote Remus for us. We all went to Christmas at Greengrass Manor first year and we met him. Then, in our third year, he was our DADA professor. He was… the best we’ve had so far.”

“Moony as a teacher,” James grinned. “I can totally see that.”

“His furry little problem would get in the way, wouldn’t it?” 

James let out a squeak of surprise as Sirius entered the room. “Sirius!” 

“You sound like Wormtail,” Sirius rolled his eyes. He looked up at James finally and froze, catching sight of Cassiopeia next to him. 

“Fuck,” Cassiopeia muttered, staring at her brother. “I thought you said he was out!” 

“Well, he was,” James shrugged helplessly. “He was supposed to be on a date!” 

“She got called to St Mungo’s,” Sirius told James, his eyes on Cassiopeia’s own. “Who are you?”

“I just want to leave,” Cassiopeia complained softly. “I don’t even care about the potions anymore.”

“No,” James said firmly. “Wait for Lily. She needs to check your head, too. Head injuries bleed a lot, but it’s still going.”

“I hit my head when I fell, I think,” she explained, still staring back at Sirius, who was stomping over to her with his wand out. James rushed at him, but Cassiopeia just waved him away. “He can’t hurt me.”

“Uh, yes he can,” James told her in a tone that suggested he was doubting her intelligence. “He has a wand!” 

“He can’t,” she promised. “He can try.”

“Is that a threat?” Sirius asked. She bit her lip to keep from laughing. He was so full of angst that it was actually funny. 

“If it is, it’s a bad one.”

“ _ Stupefy _ !” 

The stunner flew at her, but just before it would hit her chest, a light of blue magic encompassed her entire body and absorbed it. Sirius felt a sharp pain in his chest and he dropped his wand to grab onto it, letting out a hiss. 

“I meant he literally can’t hurt me,” she explained to James, who was staring at her in surprise. The family magic between a Lord and their heir protected them from each other, something he’d told her and even shown her when she became heir. 

“ _ Who the fuck are you _ ?”

Cassiopeia considered her options. She moved closer to him and grabbed his left hand with her own until their heir rings were in sight for him. He paused to stare at them for a moment. When the rings touched for a moment, a spark of golden magic flew from the rings dangerously, and Cassiopeia dropped her hand to her side. “You’re so bloody dramatic.”

“You’re not really one to talk,” James cut in. “You could’ve just told him your name.”

“Holy shit,” Sirius said. He grabbed her shoulders and stared at her eyes. It took a lot of effort not to flinch or let out a whimper of the pain she felt. “You’re a baby!” 

“It’s not like I meant to come here,” she told him, shoving his hands off her shoulders. “You’re going to be so pissed at me, too. Can’t you just lecture me now so I don’t have to hear it when I get back?”

“You were with me? What year is it? How did this happen? Why are you hurt?”

“Merlin, Pads, slow down,” James rolled his eyes. 

“I was with you because you have custody of me,” she explained. “It was 1996.”

“How did it happen? You’re hurt.”

“Yeah, I’m not answering those,” she shook her head at him. “You’re gonna lose your shit in the future so I don’t need it now.”

Sirius looked to James. “Tell me. No secrets, Prongs.”

James cursed softly at the reminder of their blood brothers bond. “Shit, I’m sorry. She was fighting Dolohov and got thrown into some Veil.”

“ _ You were fighting Dolohov _ ?”

“It’s not like I wanted to!” she shouted back. “He’s got an issue with me! He followed me during a break at the Wizengamot and basically told me he was going to fake my death and kidnap me, so I did my best to fight him off. I hit my head and fell into the bloody Veil and ended up here. God, you’re as annoying as Harry is at nineteen. At least your adult self hasn’t screamed at me for being attacked before.”

Sirius winced and forced himself to calm down. “I’m sorry. I’ve been really fucking stressed about your safety ever since Orion told me you existed.”

“You’ve told me as much,” she nodded. “I’m fine. You take care of me. When I go back, I’ll get checked over by Remus while you go try to fucking murder Dolohov. Lord Greengrass will probably stop you and you’ll give me a lecture about going places alone and then we’ll go suffer through the last half of this miserable fucking Wizengamot session.”

“Oh, shit,” Sirius’s eyes widened. “If you’re heir-,”

“You’re Lord,” she confirmed with a grin. “Really good at it, too. You handled everyone really well and invited Andromeda, Ted, and Tonks back into the family. You’re doing a lot of good, Sirius. Repairing the damage the Black family has done.”

“Can’t I just shit away all of our money until I die?” he complained. Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at him. 

“I asked if we could buy a dementor while Remus tried to teach me the Patronus instead of Harry using his boggart, which is a dementor. He said no, so I asked if we could just rent one. You congratulated me on finally finding creative ways to waste our extensive wealth. You bought me a jewel encrusted wand holster for it. I haven’t used it once."

Sirius let out a short laugh. “Maybe it isn’t so bad after all.”

Lily made her way into the room and though she frowned at Sirius’s presence, she said nothing and instead handed the potion bottles over to Cassiopeia. 

“What’re those for?” Sirius frowned as his sister took them all quickly. 

“I got in a small fight the other day,” she answered as James nudged Lily to take care of the head injury. Once she was all cleaned up, she frowned. “I can’t go out looking like this. I’d say I’ll just look how I used to, but everyone will assume I’m a bloody Weasley again.”

“Let me,” James requested. She nodded and waited as he layered a heavy glamour over her. 

“Shit, she looks so normal,” Sirius said in surprise. When she looked in the nearby mirror, she blinked in surprise. Her tight curls were different shades of brown and her eyes were a dark brown. Overall, aside from the puffy hair, she looked extremely normal. 

“Thank you,” she smiled softly at James and Lily. With only a moment of hesitance, she hugged them both, feeling an odd relief and love inside of her. They cared so deeply that she had no doubt they did love her. When she pulled away, she gave Sirius a smile. “Go easy on me when I get back. This isn’t my fault. I could argue it’s yours for letting me walk away, but then you’d never let me be alone again so just- ah.”

“Wait, where are you going?” 

“Back,” she lied before James or Lily could answer him. “There’s a spell. I just have to get it from someone first.” 

“Let me come with you.”

“No,” she rolled her eyes. “I’ve got it.”

“Cas-,”

“Sirius,” she interrupted, smiling softly when he tugged at her hair like he always did. “I mean it. Trust me. I’m not reckless. I know how to take care of myself. “

“Send me a Patronus if anything goes wrong at all,” he insisted. She nodded with a thankful smile. They walked her out and to the edge of the wards and, after quick goodbyes, she Apparated away. 

* * *


	17. Regulus

**December 10th, 1979**

**Spinner’s End**

The door opened and she took in the sight of a nineteen-year-old Severus Snape. 

“Who are you?” he drawled, looking annoyed. 

Before she could answer, before anything could be done, she felt the familiar feeling of Snape’s mind against her own, though this time it hurt as he pushed his way in without warning. His own mind felt younger and generally angrier than the older version, and she gasped in worry as he rifled dangerously through her most recent memories - memories of explaining her life to James and Lily. The feeling of his mind against hers was extremely painful without her acceptance, and she couldn’t help the scream of pain that escaped her lips. 

He grabbed her wrist tightly and dragged her into his house, slamming the door behind him. She knew already that she’d made a large mistake because not only was he angrier and darker in general, but he’d done something he’d never done before and entered her mind without her permission, which was obviously extremely important to him.

Her wounds twitched, and she gasped in pain, her hand coming up to her chest as Snape drew his wand and pointed it at her throat, though she spoke before he did. “That’s not a very polite way to greet visitors.” 

“You will come with me,” he told her sharply. 

“I’m just looking for-,” 

“It does not matter,” he interrupted, gripping her arm painfully. She bit her lip hard to hold back the whimper of pain that threatened to escape, and panic rushed through her as he twisted on his heel and took them away from his home. 

They landed in a large, white room with only two other people inside, and she immediately recognized them both, having seen pictures. 

Bellatrix Lestrange and Regulus Black.

Her cousin and… her brother. 

She wasn’t sure if she was excited or afraid, but whatever she was feeling twisted her gut painfully as she was led to a chair and shoved down before being magically bound. 

“Who is  _ this _ ?” Bellatrix asked, dancing over. 

“She is important,” Snape said shortly. “The Dark Lord will need to see her immediately.” 

“She’s  _ pretty _ ,” Bellatrix commented, looking back at Regulus. “You want her?” 

Revulsion spread through her as Snape slid from the room. 

“Let’s not play, Bella,” Regulus drawled tiredly. “Severus said the Dark Lord will be interested, so we leave her unharmed until we’re told otherwise.” 

“I’m bored,” Bellatrix sighed. “I’m going to go find that muggle toy wandering about the house.” 

Regulus gave her an annoyed look. “I suppose I’ll be staying with her, then?” 

“Sure,” Bellatrix shrugged, gliding out of the room. 

Cassiopeia’s gut twisted as she looked at her brother. He moved over curiously, looking down at her with a face she’d only seen on Mulciber and Lucius Malfoy - a cruel one. 

“Why are you so interesting?” he asked her softly. “Severus does not get involved when he does not have to.” 

She struggled with the thought of telling him who she was immediately, but she knew that Voldemort could be just around the corner. “I know things. Things that could probably end this war.” 

Regulus scoffed. “This war will never end. You are a fool to think otherwise.” 

She bit her lip as she looked up at him. This was not how she wanted to meet him. She wanted to find him in private and tell him who she was and  _ know _ him. Know him more than Sirius did after years of distance. 

“Regulus, aside,” a voice commanded. Her eyes widened as she looked up and took in the sight of Tom Riddle striding over to her. He looked young like most wizards did despite the fact that he was at least fifty. Regulus pulled away from her and positioned himself nearby. “You are… new. Your name?” 

“Belle,” she answered. He grabbed her chin and forced her head upwards, and she averted her gaze, staring at the ceiling. 

“Severus has told me much about you…” he looked at Regulus. “Leave us but remain close. I may need you.”

Regulus swept out of the room quickly, and Cassiopeia slammed up every Occlumency shield she had to protect her mind. She had never cared about that per se, but Snape had been extremely insistent that she had to keep her mind hidden, and she’d been working hard on it, though it was much harder than anything else and so she hadn’t done much yet. 

Voldemort’s fingers tickled her chin as he circled her chair. “Severus says you’ve traveled in time. From the future, a time where this war is over.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she answered. “Time travel is only possible in five-hour increments to the past.”

He came to settle in front of her and, to her surprise, whipped his wand out. “ _ Petrificus Totalus _ !” She froze, eyes open and bound in the chair in place and knew exactly what he was doing. “Ah, good. You seem smarter than to make the same mistake twice. I have to take precautions, you understand…  _ Legilimens _ !”

Words, questions, thoughts were all that he caught as she slammed down unpracticed shields, but unfortunately, it was enough. She only barely heard her screams of pain as he shuffled through her mind.

_ Terrified… Regulus… _

_ What is the diary? _

_ Tried to kill me… again. _

_ Who is Tom Riddle? _

_ Sirius, House of Black… Heir…  _

_ Basilisk…  _

_ Cassiopeia Narcissa Black…? _

He pulled out of her mind as he skirted the edges of the shields and found himself unable to get anything else useful. 

Cassiopeia was released from both the petrified state and her ropes, and she grabbed her chest immediately, the ropes having dug into the fresh injuries. She felt Voldemort’s gaze on her and bit the inside of her lip to keep from making noise. 

“You are Cassiopeia,” he trailed a finger across her shoulders as he walked around her again. “From the future. About sixteen years, yes? You’re the new Black girl. Just born. Oh, Regulus adores you. So…”

She gasped as he reached out with his wand and a gag flew into her mouth. It was physical, but she felt the magical properties - she couldn’t whine or scream, either, if she’d wanted to.

“Regulus!” Voldemort snapped. Her brother strolled back into the room, stopping a respectful ways away from his master. “I’d like you to torture this girl.”

“For how long?” Regulus asked. Cassiopeia tried very hard not to look at him and not to think about what had been ordered of him. Her only comfort was that she knew she could handle torture from Umbridge. 

“Until she’s broken,” Voldemort grinned. “She’s a special one. Don’t remove that gag.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Cassiopeia ignored him as Voldemort left the room. Regulus’s eyes were on her and there was something in them, something so horribly broken that terrified her. She was stuck, silenced, and looked absolutely nothing like her true self. 

“I’ll try to be quick,” he promised her. The words were a shock, and she blinked a few times at him. She saw the pain in his eyes and wondered if it was because of her age. “But it may still take a few days depending on your pain tolerance.”

Which, she knew, was rather high. She just nodded silently and closed her eyes, waiting. 

The first Cruciatus hit her, and she immediately felt the wound on her chest and arms tear open as she dropped to the floor. She couldn’t scream, which felt horrible, but she shook and writhed around as he held it. 

It was going to be a very long day… or days. 

* * *

Six hours in, he stopped. He stopped and left her there, bleeding and crying silently, and left the room. She wondered if she hated that more, because not only did she know that more would be coming, but she also felt the shakes that only worsened the horrible pains she felt throughout her entire body. Every nerve was on fire and every muscle twitched involuntarily as she lie on the ground, waiting. 

With what little hope she had, she worked on removing her glamour with wandless magic, but it was incredibly difficult with how drained she had been so recently. She’d almost hoped she would, in pain, have a bout of accidental magic, but she’d had no such luck. She could feel herself peeling away layers of the magic, but couldn’t tell if there were any physical changes yet. She didn’t think so. 

And then, two hours after he left, he came back. He started in on her again, and this time she swore she could  _ feel _ his sadness and horror, though she thought perhaps it was her own. The pain was almost welcome after the time waiting, and it was better to be tense and holding it in than relaxed and feeling everything. 

The worst part of the Cruciatus wasn’t the way your entire body was in pain, but what it did to the mind. The illusions it gave. The entire time she was under the curse, Cassiopeia went through horrible loops of hallucinating every situation in which she’d been hurt before. It was horrifying, and she wished she could escape. 

It was three full days before her mind fell on Crabbe and Goyle and Dudley, and she curled in on herself and gripped her legs, completely forgetting the feeling of pain in her body. Her fingers tore at her skin, and she wished she could call out, feeling just as silenced as she had been that first time. 

To her horror, the spell had stopped at some point without her realizing, and Regulus had thrown himself over to her, tearing her arms away from herself and slamming them to the floor. He was practically on top of her as he removed her gag, and she cried out. 

“Please, no, please,  _ please get off of me _ ,” she begged, squeezing her eyes shut. Regulus seemed to hesitate, and her magic finally did as she’d asked and stripped the glamour away, leaving behind her true self. “Please…”

Quickly as he could, Regulus rolled off of her, leaving her curled in a ball with her bloody hands gripping her shoulders and her eyes closed. He watched her for a long moment as her newly black hair fell in front of her face like a curtain, covering the silver and blue eyes he’d seen. 

“Who are you?” He asked her. She didn’t answer, taking the large effort to scoot away from him and prop herself against a nearby wall. 

“Just let me go,” she begged. “I’ll go home, I’ll find a way home, he won’t see me again. I didn’t mean to do this. I didn’t… mean to do this.”

“Who are you?” He asked again, looking closely at the familiar icy blue and silver eyes. “Answer me.”

“Won’t believe me,” she muttered. She was shaking violently already, and she didn’t seem to notice as her nails pinched at her skin, reddening it badly. 

“I can’t let you go if I don’t know who you are,” he reasoned. “Your name is not Belle.”

She shook, avoiding his gaze. “Cassiopeia,” she answered finally. “I’m sorry.”

Regulus felt as if his entire world had fallen apart. In the weeks since his sister had been born, he’d taken her as his reason to live, and he’d sworn to protect her. She was his Solis, his sun, his light. He’d sworn to fight Voldemort because he didn’t want her growing up in a world run by that lunatic. 

And he’d spent three days torturing her. 

He stood and made his way over, his hands out and empty as he reached for her. “I’m going to take you to safety.”

“Gotta get home,” she replied. She seemed to be speaking gibberish, or thinking it at least, and he was grateful as she let him pick her up with only a flinch as he approached her. As soon as she was in his arms, her arms wrapped around his neck and her head fell against his chest. “Wanted to find you though.”

With the knowledge that she was from the future, his nerves jumped a little, and he worked hard to get them into the floo safely. Terrified, he sent them to the only place he could pass through without being stopped by someone that didn’t trust him. 

“Potter Manor!” 

He came out the other side, stumbling slightly. Cassiopeia was unconscious already, and he worried for her. He’d been working very hard to get it done quickly, which meant that she was… not good. 

“Regulus!” Lily exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She’d been on the couch with a book across the room and when she spotted Cassiopeia, her hand flew over her mouth. “Oh my god. They’re out looking for her now, she never came back or- what happened to her?”

“You’ve met?” he asked, momentarily distracted from getting her to safety. Lily nodded quickly. 

“She showed up three days ago hurt and in the wrong time. She said she wanted to find you, to meet you. She went to Severus. We- we told her it was a bad idea.”

Regulus took in a slow, deep breath and nodded. “I need to use your floo to get to one of my homes.”

“We can help her,” Lily told him immediately. He shook his head firmly. 

“He would check here,” Regulus told her. “I can take care of her.”

“What happened?” Lily asked softly, looking at the unconscious and shaking girl. “She had me get her a muscle relaxer before she left. Did it wear off?”

“She’ll be fine,” he assured her. “I need to go before the Dark Lord finds out I’ve taken her.”

“Yes, of course. Go on. I’ll lock the floo behind you.”

“Thank you, Lily.”

She nodded and waved him on. Without another thought, he sent them to his home in Germany, the one with a Secret Keeper, and hoped he could help her.

* * *

**December 13th, 1979**

**Safe House**

It wasn’t so much a matter of saving Cassiopeia as it was a matter of reducing the long term damage done. All in all, Voldemort had wanted her dead, there was no way around that, and so that’s what he’d been working towards. But that meant that she had some intense issues, and her long term damage would indeed be long term. Not to mention the worrying medical history he’d gotten from her that included poorly treated torture, which explained how she’d held out for so long. 

The scratches on her thighs were worryingly deep, and he’d found her palm bleeding from her nails as well. His decision to trim her nails to ensure they were less dangerous was one he figured was a good one. 

Something he found extremely terrifying was the scars he noticed when he applied a paste to her skin to help limit the damage. Some were bad and clearly from dark magic or even just muggle stitches. 

The scars only reminded him of what had forced him to stop in the end. He’d never seen someone so scared before, except after Mulciber or Dolohov had gotten to someone. And  _ that _ was a truly horrible thought that made him sick. So, he’d removed the gag because even from the beginning, it seemed to scare her more than he had. 

As he continued on healing her, his mind wandered back to the way she’d looked at him before he’d begun. Like she understood. She wasn’t upset. She knew what was going to happen but she already forgave him. 

It haunted him. 

It was many hours of healing later when she finally woke. Her magical core had drained itself to remove the glamour, though it had already been rather low, to begin with, and she’d been stuck in a coma until it was full again, though it was much shorter than he’d have guessed. 

He watched as she shifted in the large bed. He’d known she would wake soon, but he still wasn’t ready. He’d already given her potions to her so her pain would be minimal at the moment, and there was water sitting nearby. 

It took her nearly five minutes before she opened her eyes, and he saw the immediate panic. The fear was there, a terror that he wasn’t sure had only come from himself. 

“You’re safe,” he told her quietly. Her head shot to him, and he offered a small smile. “You’re safe.”

She glanced at the table nearby and pulled herself up to sit against the pillows and headboard. “Not again,” she whispered, her chest rising and falling quicker than he’d have liked. “Please, they can’t have gotten to me again, not again.” 

He blinked. He knew memory loss was possible with the Cruciatus but he’d hoped she didn’t have it. “Who?”

“Crabbe and Goyle,” she whispered. “It’s just like the first time… I feel… what happened?”

He breathed out slowly. “Cassiopeia, you are in the past. It’s 1979.”

He watched as vague recognition flew by before a look of complete understanding occurred, and she looked down at herself before glancing back at him. “I… forgot.”

“It happens,” he nodded. “How do you feel?”

“Not too bad.” He was silent as she collected her thoughts and he collected his own. To his surprise, she spoke up first. “Snape is a potions professor. He’s always been very kind to me. He took care of me and kept me safe when no one else could. And Sirius told me that you two are friends…. I just wanted to find you.”

“You went to Severus,” Regulus whispered sadly. His friend was bitter and angry and would certainly not help a strange girl, not one who could help him further his career with the Dark Lord. “And he unknowingly betrayed your trust first. And then I did as well.”

She flinched. “Please don’t.”

“I never wanted you to be afraid of me,” he admitted sadly, his heart breaking as he said it out loud. “I keep promising to protect you… obviously, I do not.”

She wrapped her arms around herself, bringing her legs up to her chest. “It’s not you that failed me, Regulus, it’s… I don’t even know who to blame. Not you.”

He shook his head at her. “You’re terrified.”

She hesitated, obviously unsure of how to voice her words. “I saw things I’ve moved on from… felt it all again. I’m afraid of that.”

“What did you see?” He asked softly. “Before I stopped.”

“I was… attacked,” she said slowly. “By two boys in my year. I couldn’t move and I was silenced. It was the most horrible thing. I almost died. I managed to get back to a friend’s dorm, and they got Snape, and he used Legilimency to see what happened so he could heal me. Well… that’s what I’ve been told. I remember the attack but nothing after until I woke up in an unfamiliar house with unfamiliar people trying to heal me. And then… it’s happened again after that, too.” 

Regulus nodded. “That’s why you asked if it happened again.”

“It’s not a big deal,” she waved it off, though he saw the anxiety in her eyes. “Where are we, though? I’ve never been here.”

“This is mine,” he told her. “It was given to me in my trust. I live with our parents, but I keep this for emergencies. I have a Secret Keeper.”

Cassiopeia sighed, leaning her head back. “I have to get back.”

“How did you end up here?”

She took a second to think before she answered. “Sirius is my guardian. He’s taken over as Head of House, and it was just a Wizengamot session. It was a break. Um… Dolohov followed me to the Veil of Death because I heard- it was you,” she breathed as she suddenly recognized his voice. “It was you. I heard you. And I went there and Dolohov followed me. He took my wand and it was- I used wandless magic to get him away from me and fell into the Veil, where I ended up in Potter Manor.” She paused, biting her lip. “When I was a baby, soon, actually, Orion faked our deaths and placed me with muggles to be raised there, so when I got to Hogwarts, I met Draco Malfoy and explained to him why his bigotry made absolutely no sense.” 

Regulus took a long moment to process. That fact explained much about why Severus had to protect her and the way she presented herself and spoke alone. Still, one question stood out. 

“Are you a Gryffindor?”

“No!” She frowned. “Why do people keep saying that? I’m a Slytherin. Anyway… Lucius didn’t like me for making Draco see that his dad is just a bigot, and so he had me attacked… that’s what I told you about.”

Regulus took a deep breath. “I wanted you to have such a good life. I wanted to give you that, at least. I’ve not done much good in my life…” He shook his head. “How can you stand to be near me?”

She looked at him in surprise. “Before first year, Lord Nott told me about our family. He told me about Sirius and he said your name and it felt- I don’t know. Sirius said it’s some sort of unsealed bond. My magic felt like it was preparing for something, and I was so curious about you. Then I did some research on you and there were just… some holes in what was known. I asked Sirius about you and he… he didn’t know much. He told me he always loved you but that… I don’t know. He wanted you to be braver. He doesn’t know how you died and it bothered me. And, you know, I found out who I am before fourth year. It makes sense why I was so stuck on you. You’re my brother. I wanted to know, to figure out your life, and I didn’t have the chance to do that until now, and now I get it. I know what happened. I don’t regret what happened. I knew it could go horribly wrong, but I needed to meet you. I knew what could’ve happened and  _ I don’t care _ .”

Regulus looked at her for a long time, a frustration that he often felt with Sirius lighting up inside of him. “That is… extremely foolish.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re welcome for the extremely heartfelt speech.”

“Of  _ course  _ I want to know you,” he told her. “But do you have no care for your own life?”

She shrugged. 

“You don’t.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to,” he told her. “I’ve seen it in Sirius, I see it in you. The same reckless need to be a martyr. Give your life for  _ something _ .  _ Anything _ .”

“I don’t want to die!” She argued hotly, suddenly very irritated. He’d hit a sore spot she didn’t know she had and it frustrated her. 

“If you keep telling yourself that, you  _ will _ die,” he told her, this time gently. There was heartbreak in her eyes as she looked at him. “Cassie?”

“I just… I wish I had you,” she muttered. “Everyone says you died today but no one knows how and I hate it. I’ve wished I could know you for so long and now I know and I know what I can do. I know what happens. It’s  _ me _ .”

He kept the shock from his face as he looked at her. “I expected to be found out soon. I recently stole something from the Dark Lord… it nearly killed me. Kreacher barely saved me.”

Cassiopeia frowned. “What could possibly be important enough?”

“Have you heard of Horcruxes?”

She gasped loudly, her eyes widening. “So I was right?  _ That’s  _ what it was?”

“The locket?”

“The diary,” she shook her head. “What locket?”

“What  _ diary _ ?” He frowned. 

“Tom Riddle’s diary,” she replied. “Voldemort’s diary. It opened the chamber of secrets and tried to kill me in my second year as well as some other people. My friend destroyed it with a basilisk fang.”

“Basilisk venom is one of the only things that can destroy it,” Regulus nodded. “I haven’t managed to get one for the locket.”

“ _ What _ locket?”

“Salazar Slytherin’s locket.”

Cassiopeia’s eyes widened, and her hair began to spark with anger. “That despicable man! That’s such a precious heirloom! He’s a  _ founder _ !”

Regulus chuckled and reached over to tug lightly at her hair the same way that Sirius often did. She relaxed with the motion, smiling at him as he spoke. “He used Kreacher to hide it. Kreacher would’ve died but I ordered him to return to me, and he did. I made him take me there and I switched it out with a fake and a note. I almost got taken by Inferi but I called for Kreacher just in time.”

Cassiopeia frowned. “He either has three of them or seven… I’d guess seven. It’s the most powerful magical number.”

“You’re probably right,” Regulus agreed. “But we should focus on getting you home.”

Cassiopeia bit her lip. “I have an idea.”

He raised an eyebrow. 

“I’m going to take you with me.”

“Where?”

“The future. 1996.”

“No,” he shook his head. “I have to stay here as long as I can to protect you.”

“But you die today. I think this is why.”

“Well, we need to focus on how you’ll get back first. Then we can decide if I come, too.”

She shrugged. “I know how to get back.”

Regulus stared. “How? Time travel to the future is-,”

“Rare. Not impossible. Just rare. Though textbooks will say only time travel to the past by five hours is possible, that’s not true. I was trying to find information on the diary, actually, and I stumbled on this spell that they made to get Windela the Lost back home. You’ve heard her story?”

“She traveled back some five hundred years, didn’t she?”

“She did, and then they used this spell to basically fling her to her rightful time.” Cassiopeia nodded, shifting on the bed until she faced him completely now. 

“So how does it work?”

“Basically, it works off of connection. It’ll send me to my magical guardian.”

“So you’ll go back to Sirius,” Regulus guessed. Cassiopeia hesitated. 

“No, I don’t think so.”

Confusion fell over her brother. “You said he’s your guardian.”

“But he wasn’t my  _ first _ magical guardian.”

“Oh?”

“The first person  _ I _ recognized as my magical guardian was… Professor Snape,” she admitted. He tensed a little, and she offered a smile. “I trust him completely. He’ll keep me safe.”

“He just turned you into Voldemort and then…” Regulus trailed off. “You still trust him?”

She sighed sadly. “I never knew how his younger life went. Sirius told me they bullied him and the incident with Remus-,”

“That was no incident,” Regulus interrupted. “That was attempted murder on both their parts.”

Anger lit up Cassiopeia’s eyes. “Remus had no control over himself!”

“Not  _ Remus _ ,” her brother frowned. “Severus. He wanted to kill the werewolf, or at least get him expelled.”

Cassiopeia remembered the night she’d been told. “Sirius began telling us what Snape wanted but he stopped… we were focusing on getting to know each other. He didn’t tell me what… he didn’t tell me.”

Regulus ran his fingers through his hair the same way Sirius did and sat back in his chair. “Sirius and Severus… fuck, all of us have done a lot of things we’re not proud of. Sirius and James bullied Severus. Severus called Lily a mudblood. But Sirius and regrets that night. Severus - at least now - holds anger for that night and blames Sirius and James for… Merlin knows what. I’ve done horrible things… the worst of which I’ve done very recently. Honestly, I’m pretty sure Lily is the only innocent one of all of us.”

Cassiopeia was quiet as she looked at him. He was avoiding her gaze now, and she could see the guilt and shame rolling off of him. “If we do that spell, all you have to do is hold onto me and you’ll come with me… please come with me.”

Regulus hesitated, but she felt a small victory as he made eye contact. “Okay.”

* * *

“We don’t know what this will do to us,” Regulus commented after walking back into the room. “We don’t know how bad it’ll hurt you. I think I should pick you up. Is that alright?”

She sighed in frustration as pain kept her from braiding her hair. “That’s fine. I can’t… fuck, I hate this.”

Regulus walked over quietly and pulled the hair from her, finishing the braid expertly. “I can give you one more pain potion, but any more than that for eight hours and we risk poisoning you.”

“I’ll take it later,” she sighed. “I can handle the pain, it just usually doesn’t stop me from braiding hair.”

He tied the hair tie around the end of the braid and set it against her back, stepping away for her to stand. “I spoke to a friend, a spy for the Order. They retrieved your wand for you and let me know what’s going on.”

“How pissed is Voldemort?” She asked reaching out for the old wand in his hand. She shoved it in the holster he’d given her and glanced up as Regulus hesitated. 

“Well, let's just say it is probably good I’ll be coming with you,” he suggested. “He’s out for my head. He also wants you to make up for my loss… you as a baby.”

“We’d figured as much,” she nodded. 

“I think it’s got less to do with my loss and more to do with stopping you from gaining the knowledge you have,” Regulus admitted as she pulled on a jean jacket over the muggle clothes he’d gotten for her. “He likely believes that if he takes you from your family, he can control what you know.”

“Yeah,” she sighed, shifting on her feet. She’d taken a shower and gotten new clothes. Once she’d finished, she knew they had to go. “I’m ready.”

Regulus nodded and reached out for her. Rolling her eyes, she let him pick her up, silently admitting to herself that if the spell was at all painful, she was likely to collapse. 

“Go ahead,” he nodded at her questioning look. She dropped her wand from the holster and spoke slowly. 

“ _ Ad Esse Custos _ ,” she whispered. The spell worked a little too quickly, and she felt them yanked to the side and into complete darkness. She held her breath as they were thrown, rather ungracefully, out of the darkness and to the floor of a room she was very familiar with. “Ow! Fuck!”

She scrambled off of Regulus, having landed on top of him, and barely made it to a chair before she collapsed. Her brother rushed over and kneeled at her side, frowning. 

“You need that pain potion,” he told her. “You should’ve taken it before we left.”

“I didn’t need it then.”

“You might’ve jostled your injuries badly,” he argued, glancing over her slowly, his brow furrowed. 

“Miss Black.”

Cassiopeia looked up to find Snape looking between her and Regulus with a deep frown. “Professor, thank  _ god _ . I need every fucking pain potion you have, please.”

“What happened to her?” Snape asked Regulus, his eyes dark. 

“Three days of torture. She had her last pain potion six hours ago.” 

Snape nodded once and left the room, leaving them alone in silence as he retrieved the potions he needed. 

“He didn’t even say anything,” Cassiopeia complained. “He never reacts to anything I do unless I’ve just almost died, and then he only yells at me.” 

“He yells at you for almost dying?” 

“I have no clue why.” 

“Perhaps because you do foolish things like jump from seven flights of stairs,” Snape suggested sharply as he entered the room again, handing her potions, which she downed quickly without question, surprising her brother. “Or instigate Umbridge, or run off to a battle to fight a group of Death Eaters, or-,”

“We get it,” she interrupted with a huff. 

He stopped, looking between them. 

“It’s a long story,” she breathed. “Dolohov followed me to the Veil room and I fell into the Veil- shit, that asshole has my wand!” 

“Black.” 

She breathed out slowly and began again. “It was recess. I needed to take a walk because we’d been arguing for  _ hours _ and I heard… Regulus, I guess, in the Veil room, and I sort of went in there. I didn’t notice Dolohov behind me until he was rather close and… we talked for a minute and when it became clear no one would be finding me soon, I tried to use wandless magic since he’d taken my wand, but the most I know is basically controlled accidental magic because of-,” she shook her head, reminding herself Regulus was watching her closely. “So I sort of blasted him back and I think he hit his head, but I passed out and fell into the Veil and ended up in 1979.” 

Snape looked at her with a frown. “How does your mind feel?” 

“What?” she asked, startled. 

“What’s wrong with her mind?” Regulus questioned. 

Snape looked rather uncomfortable as he spoke. “Do you know why I never enter your mind without your express permission?”

“No,” she frowned. “I figured it was just, you know, legal stuff. Maybe the Dumbledore thing.”

“Partly because of Dumbledore, but for the most part, no,” he disagreed. “It is because I once entered the mind of a scared, lost girl, and then delivered her to the Dark Lord. I later found out that it was Regulus’s sister who had come back from the future and came to me for help.”

Cassiopeia was quiet for a long minute before she spoke again. “It hurts. It wasn’t as bad with you as when Voldemort did it, but it was worse than Dumbledore. It hurts, but not as much as everything else.” 

“I am… very sorry,” Snape told her gently. “Your mind can be healed, but only by Occlumency. If you are not comfortable with-,”

“No,” she shook her head quickly. “I am. Please. There’s no one else I can-,”

She cut herself off but he got her point. There was no one else she could let see everything that had happened to her in her life.

“Tomorrow,” he told her before turning to Regulus. “You are not hurt?” 

“No.” 

“I will send for Sirius. Don’t be surprised if the entire Black family and Mister Zabini show up with him.” 

“Thank you,” Cassiopeia breathed out in relief, watching as the man left the room to do as he’d said. 

“Cassie,” Regulus said gently. She looked over at him curiously as he frowned, unsure what to say. “Are you… safe here?” 

She almost laughed but managed to stop herself before she could. “I live with Sirius. He would never hurt me. He  _ can’t _ . He’s Lord Black and I’m his heir. He tried to stun me before I went looking for you and the family magic stopped it. Lords can’t hurt their heirs.”

“But aside from that,” Regulus shook his head. “Are you safe?”

She shrugged. “I guess since you’re here, it’s important that you know. Orion faked our deaths, and he had the Potters adopt me. In 1981, Voldemort targeted James and Lily because there was a prophecy about their son, Harry, that said he’d be the one to destroy Voldemort. James and Lily were killed Halloween 1981, but Voldemort died, too. Well… he didn’t die, he just became a shade. Harry and I went to his muggle aunt and uncle. In our second year, we found Tom Riddle’s diary, which I now know was a Horcrux. 

“Our fourth year, Voldemort came back. He’s gaining power now. Sirius and I are planning, trying to fight it, but it’s hard. Last month, Harry had a vision that Sirius was being tortured in the Department of Mysteries and we went - that was when I jumped off of seven flights of stairs  _ but I caught myself _ . Anyway, when we got there, Sirius wasn’t there. He ended up fighting Lucius Malfoy - the absolute bastard - and other Death Eaters. We got to the Veil room and Dolohov grabbed me and held me back the entire time. When I finally got away, he cursed me. That’s why he grabbed me again, I think. He was staring at me during the Wizengamot session, so I should’ve known he’d try something if he could.”

“Is there anything else I need to know?” he asked her in worry. She bit her lip. 

“Sirius was framed by Peter Pettigrew for giving James and Lily to Voldemort. He was in Azkaban for twelve years before he broke out, I found him, and my friends helped him to be proven innocent.” 

“Your friends?”

She nodded. “I went to Lord Greengrass and we worked out a plan together to have him go to a mind and body healing clinic in a time bubble. When he left there, the House of Potter gave him asylum until he could be proven innocent. We thankfully didn’t have to ask Lady Zabini for help.”

“ _ Zabini _ ?”

Cassiopeia blushed a little. “I’m... close with her son. I’d have asked Draco, but Lucius obviously hated him. Luckily, Sirius dissolved Narcissa’s marital contract. They’re staying with us in Potter Manor.”

“Not Black Manor?”

“Sirius won’t step foot in there,” she shrugged. “It’s fine. We’re happy where we are.”

“Cassie,” Blaise gasped, rushing into the room. She reached out to pull him into a hug, glad that he’d come. He pulled back and touched her face lightly, looking her over. “Shit. You’re hurt. Was it Umbridge? She was at the Wizengamot. I saw her glaring at us through her gross toad eyes.”

“No,” she shook her head, letting out a startled laugh. “It’s okay. I’ll explain later, okay?” 

“Holy fucking shit.” 

Cassiopeia turned to see Sirius frozen in the door, staring at his newly alive brother. “Snape didn’t tell you what had happened?” 

“Not one bit,” he muttered, annoyed. “Just that you’re here and hurt.” 

“What about the Wizengamot?” she asked, worried. 

“Remus,” he answered simply, waving her off as he continued to stare at his little brother. “What the fuck, Reg?”

“It’s a… long story,” Regulus answered. “Not a good one.” 

“I thought Voldemort killed you or some shit,” Sirius said, his voice rising. “What the  _ fuck _ ?”

“Time travel,” Cassiopeia spoke up, surprising Blaise, who was kneeling in front of her and holding her hand. “Don’t you remember? You came to Potter Manor when I got there.” 

“I don’t remember anything,” Sirius disagreed as Snape pushed his way into his office, making a face at Sirius. 

“Please tell your family to stop trying to break into my classroom,” he requested. Sirius did nothing, so the man scowled. “Your memories are hidden.” 

“Who the fuck touched my memories?” 

“James Potter.” 

Everyone in the room looked at Snape in surprise. 

“What?” Sirius asked softly. 

“I think that’s my fault,” Regulus said. “When I was taking Cassiopeia away, I went through their Potter Manor so that I couldn’t be tracked. Lily saw me and we talked. She already knew who Cassiopeia was.” 

“They went to Dumbledore,” Snape disagreed. “He only told me when Miss Black began school. I didn’t understand why it was important then, but I do now.” 

“What are you talking about?” Sirius looked between them, his eyes falling on his sister, who was shaking lightly. “What happened, Cassie?” 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was going to come back. I didn’t know what would happen.” 

“ _ Factum _ ,” Snape whispered. Sirius stilled as the hidden memories were released and fit themselves into his mind once more. 

It took him a minute as he waited before he fully understood, and he looked down at his sister in worry. “What did you do, Cassie?”

“She came to me,” Snape said. “Assuming I was the same person I am today. I turned her into Voldemort.” 

“And she was glamoured, so the Dark Lord gave her to me,” Regulus continued. “I… tortured her for three days before the glamour fell and I understood who she was and what had happened. I took her to one of my homes and healed her before she took me here.” 

“Fuck,” Sirius whispered, kneeling down in front of his sister, pushing Blaise out of the way. “Shit. You’re never going to stop worrying me, huh, kitten?”

“Sorry,” she whispered, a sob building in her chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go back but Dolohov almost had me and-,”

“Dolohov,” Sirius growled, rather reminiscent of his grim form, and shot to his feet. “I’m going to fucking kill him.” 

“He’s in the Veil room,” Cassiopeia told him. He nodded once and left the room in a hurry, leaving her there with her boyfriend, her brother, and the man she’d come to trust so much. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Blaise moved to sit in the chair next to her and pulled her into his arms. 

“Do you want anyone else here?” he asked her softly. She considered the question for a moment before nodding quietly. 

“Maybe… Draco and Harry,” she muttered. He nodded and kissed her cheek gently. 

“Is it… a good idea to let him go?” Regulus asked before Blaise could leave.

Cassiopeia shrugged a little, unsure.

“He probably won’t kill him,” Blaise added before pausing. “Probably.” 

“Perhaps we should go ensure that he doesn’t,” Snape said, looking terribly bothered. Regulus looked to Cassiopeia, who nodded a little. It was clear he didn’t want to leave her, but he got up and followed Snape out of the room as Harry and Draco rushed in on their own. 

“What the fuck happened?” Draco asked, looking over her shaking form. 

“Dolohov,” she muttered. “He cornered me in front of the Veil and said some… he said some things that I have no doubt he intended to follow up on, so I tried to do wandless magic, but I passed out and fell through the Veil and ended up in 1979.”

“What did he say?” Harry asked her, tactful as ever.

“More importantly, was that your  _ brother _ ?” Draco asked her. She nodded weakly and set into explaining everything to them, already tired of it. 

* * *


	18. Adjusting

**July 1st, 1996**

**Ministry of Magic**

They got to the Veil room just after Sirius, and Snape managed to stun him before he could cast whatever nasty hex or curse he’d been going to send after the unconscious man. Regulus ran ahead and plucked two wands off Dolohov while Snape revived Sirius. 

“What the fuck?” he yelled angrily. 

“You cannot kill him,” Snape replied, not particularly in the mood to deal with the angry man. He’d been dreading the day Cassiopeia returner from the past for years and didn’t have the patience for her hotheaded brother. “You are Lord Black now.”

“He was going to do Merlin knows what to Cassiopeia!” Sirius shouted back. “I sure as hell can kill him.” 

“He didn’t hurt her,” Regulus reminded his brother. “She’s fine. She’s at Hogwarts.”

Sirius glared at the still body of the Death Eater and sent an angry cutting hex at his shoulder, where it dug into him. “Bastard can heal that up himself.” 

“Let’s get back to the castle,” Regulus suggested carefully. “We left Cassiopeia alone with her friends.”

“She’s safe with them,” Sirius nodded, though he began walking to the floo in the atrium. He was stopped by Regulus grabbing his arm as Snape went ahead, flooing back to his office.

“She isn’t safe.” 

Sirius hesitated. “No, I don’t think so.” 

Regulus nodded once and entered the floo, throwing down the powder and being sent to Snape’s office, which he was surprised to find empty. When he noticed the door open, he looked out to find the remainder of the Black family gathered in the potions classroom. Cassiopeia was being embraced by a boy and a girl, neither of which he thought had been there before.

“Regulus,” Narcissa breathed, staring up at him. He offered her a small smile. They’d been close for a long time, and he’d worried for her when she’d married Malfoy. “They said you were back, but…"

“I’m here,” he confirmed, walking down the steps and allowing himself to be wrapped up in a hug by his cousin. He patted her back awkwardly, waiting until she finally released him. He looked over to where Cassiopeia was huddled in a group of six other teenagers. “Who are they?”

“Draco is on the left,” Narcissa said, a hint of pride in her voice. “Next to him is Daphne and then Astoria Greengrass. Then there’s Harry Potter and Cassiopeia’s boyfriend, Blaise Zabini.” 

“They’re being very gentle,” he noted. He’d been worried that her friends might be too enthusiastic, but they were all careful with her. 

Narcissa nodded once. “There are some things that I have no doubt she would rather tell you herself, but I will say that those closest to her seem to have a good understanding of how to care for someone that’s undergone the Cruciatus.” 

“It’s bad,” Regulus whispered to her softly. “She has so many scars, Cissa.” 

Narcissa paused, looking to her younger cousin. “She does?” 

Regulus nodded. “I have not asked her about them. Does anyone know?” 

“It is possible my son does,” Narcissa admitted, watching as the boy stared at his cousin in worry. “They are very close. Likely her friends and her boyfriend as well.” 

“Zabini is her boyfriend,” Regulus said, almost laughing. “Is Elora just as insufferable as before?” 

“I have lost count of her husbands,” Narcissa hummed. “I think Blaise may have as well.” 

“Okay!” Sirius shouted from the top of the stairs. “I expect everyone in this room to head over to Potter Manor and stay there while we work this out. Remus is already there.” 

“But we barely got through that first proposal, we can’t miss all of them! Not with bloody Umbridge there again!” Cassiopeia shook her head in a hurry, eyes wide. 

“Calm down, kitten,” he offered her a smile. “They’ve rescheduled the meeting for next week since we’re missing and Dolohov is  _ injured _ .” 

“He only hit his head,” she said, confused, before pausing. “Sirius!” 

“It was only a cutting hex,” he defended. “Now everyone, get to Potter Manor!” 

* * *

The library was picked as the meeting room where Sirius stood in front of everyone, completely unsure how to handle the meeting or even what to say. 

“Who knows what happened today?” When everyone raised their hands, Sirius looked to Cassiopeia. “Who knows?” 

“You, Professor Snape, Regulus, and my friends. I haven’t told anyone else, so I don’t know what’s gotten around to them.” 

“Okay,” Sirius nodded. “During the break, Cassiopeia went on a walk and found herself in the Veil room with Dolohov. He threatened her and she tried to use wandless magic and ended up passing out and falling into the veil. She was sent to 1979, where she was healed by Lily and then left. She wanted to meet Regulus, so she went to Snape, who took her to Voldemort. Voldemort ordered… Regulus to torture her, and it was a while before he figured it out and took her away. They left not long after that. Questions?”

“Yeah, what are we going to do about Dolohov?” 

Sirius looked at Tonks, who was frowning furiously. “I’m unsure. We can bring it up to the Wizengamot at the next session. Try to have him prosecuted. At the very least, we will declare issue with the House of Dolohov.”

“And me?” Regulus asked. “Everyone thinks I’m dead.” 

Sirius hummed. “I think we should leave it that way.”

“ _ Why _ ?” Cassiopeia asked, wide-eyed. 

“Because if Voldemort knows he’s alive, he’ll be after both of you, more pissed off than before,” Sirius explained. “You both escaped him. You both fucked him over. We already know he’s got an unhealthy obsession with our family, and losing two of us at the same time… he’s going to be pissed.” 

“He might have a point,” Regulus agreed. “I don’t know whether or not he knows of my earlier betrayal, but if he does, he will stop at nothing to find me and figure out where I put it.”

Cassiopeia nodded quickly. “That’s true. I don’t think he knows about the diary, but if he did, he’d probably move every one he has, and I’d rather him not go to further lengths to protect them.”

“Okay, what are you two talking about?” Draco asked, annoyed. 

“Horcruxes,” the pair said together.

“Ah,  _ shit _ ,” Sirius hissed, grabbing his head in stress. “Oh, fuck. Shit!” 

“Sirius!” Harry called. “What’s a Horcrux?”

“It’s a terrible thing,” Regulus answered while Sirius continued to mutter curse words, some of them seemingly made up. “A Horcrux is made when a witch or wizard tears a piece of their soul apart by murdering someone and places it in a person or thing. Voldemort has two that we know of - the diary and the locket, which I stole from him - but Cassiopeia believes there to be seven total, and I agree with her. Voldemort has always been obsessed with the number since it’s the most powerful magical number.”

“Fuck!” Sirius shouted for the last time. “You know where two are?” 

“Actually,” Cassiopeia spoke up. “Harry killed the diary in our second year.”

“I gave the locket to Kreacher to take care of until I got the means to destroy it.” 

“So, we find the fucking Horcruxes,” Sirius said, looking to Regulus. “Do you know of any others?”

“All I know is that three of us received these special objects - Lucius Malfoy, Bella, and myself. Cassie said Lucius gave the diary to someone, so that leaves Bella.”

“Yeah, she’s dead,” Sirius shrugged. “But we can check her vaults and home.” 

“She’s dead?”

“Sirius called Judgement on Bellatrix,” Harry explained. “Obviously, it killed her.”

“Anything else pressing?” Narcissa asked. Sirius thought for a minute. 

“No, but everyone is invited to stay for dinner.” 

Thankful for the end of the short meeting, Cassiopeia got to her feet, catching Snape’s eye, and walked out of the room to a sitting room just down the hall, where she collapsed into a chair. Snape grabbed his wand and pointed it at her, and she let him. She knew he’d want to check on her health anyway, and she sat there patiently as he read the list. He froze, and she blinked. Surely there was nothing that would surprise him?

“You went back.”

Cassiopeia met his eyes, understanding what he meant. “Watch.” 

Snape nodded and cast the spell silently. 

_ Cassiopeia fell to the ground, her wrist cracking painfully underneath her. She gasped for air as her arm was shoved into her stomach and rolled onto her back in time to see Vernon charging at her.  _

_ He came down hard on her legs and she let out a groan of pain as she leaned forward and punched him. He grabbed her wrist - the uninjured one - and twisted it hard until she pulled back in pain. “You’ve broken them!”  _

_ He reached up above them and grabbed the lamp off the end table and brought it down hard, smashing it on her head. Blood dripped from her forehead as he took a piece of the broken ceramic lamp and stabbed it into her calf. The scream she let out was cut off as he put his hand on her throat and pulled out the small piece of lamp, slicing along her other thigh. She kicked her legs up, trying to resist or fight back, but he placed his other hand on her throat and she felt herself slowly fading.  _

“You didn’t let anyone heal you,” Snape said, staring at her. “You went back and you didn’t let anyone heal you.”

“It’s not important.”

“It  _ is _ important. You saw Vernon Dursley again and he tried to kill you  _ again _ and you brush it off. Then your brother, who you’ve never met before, hurts you the same way Umbridge has been doing all year and you brush it off. Have you no care for your own life?”

“I care for the lives of the people I love.”

“That is ridiculous,” he snapped. “You are going to get yourself killed! Between Umbridge and Voldemort and that family… we can’t protect you forever, Cassiopeia.”

“I’ll face all of them over and over again,” she replied firmly. “If it means you and everyone else I love are okay.”

Snape looked angrier than before. “Your sentimentality is dangerous.”

“You’re just angry because after years of keeping me alive and sane, I told you I love you,” she taunted. “It’s your own fucking fault you were the best goddamn father figure I’ve ever had.”

“I am angry because you do not care for your own life!” He yelled at her. “It’s my  _ job  _ to keep you alive, you are my student.”

“I’ve said it before, it’s not your job to care for me,” she replied with more snark than necessary. “Don’t you  _ dare _ invalidate the healthiest fucking parental relationship I’ve ever had!”

Snape stared at her, seething but absolutely unable to yell at her anymore. “If you die, I will bring you back to life, I swear it on  _ everything I have _ . And it won’t be pleasant!”

She blinked at him. “Wow, I’m very afraid.”

He deflated, aware that their argument was over, whether he liked it or not. “Don’t seek out the people that spent so much energy hurting you.”

“I’ll do my best,” she agreed quietly. 

“You’re aware Regulus has heard… more or less, the entire conversation?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll be back once I get the bruise paste you need,” he nodded curtly, stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.

The door opened, and she blew out a long breath as Regulus walked over. “You just yelled at him because he wouldn’t let you care about him.”

“He has issues with emotions,” she replied tiredly. “It’s taken me five full years to get him to this point. He shows his care by yelling at me or scolding me. You should’ve seen him after the DOM, he was  _ pissed _ .”

There was a beat of silence before Regulus spoke again. “You let me hurt you.”

Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow. “I did not. I didn’t have much choice in the matter.”

“But you did. You’re powerful enough to blast me with wandless magic, even accidental magic, and you didn’t.” 

“Would you hurt me now that you know who I am?” She wondered. 

“Of course not.”

She shrugged as if that was his answer. 

“I won’t make you talk about it, but… who knows?”

“Blaise, Harry, just about all of my friends because they figured it out in first year, and Snape. Not Sirius. Not Remus.”

Snape entered the room again and she looked up at him with a small smile as he shoved potions into her hand and kneeled down, grabbing her leg. Regulus blinked in surprise as he rolled up her pant leg to reveal a deep cut that had been badly bandaged. Snape scowled at her. 

“After years of watching me heal you,  _ this _ is the best you can do?”

She just shrugged lightly as she downed the last potion and set the bottle on the table in front of her. Snape slowly cleaned out the wound and dripped dittany into it, watching it sizzle and stitch the skin back together before doing the same to her other leg. 

“That will do for now,” he told her slowly. “As I said, the bruises will take time. I will come back tomorrow with a supply of the potions you will need for the Cruciatus. I meant to bring them over anyway, but it seems to be a bit more dire now.” 

“Thank you, Professor.” 

“Don’t get yourself killed while I’m gone.” 

Cassiopeia let out a small laugh as she watched the cranky man leave, shutting the door behind him. She put up a privacy ward on the door and turned to Regulus, who was watching her quietly. “What are you thinking?” 

“You have an odd relationship with Severus.” 

Cassiopeia nodded quietly. “In first year, he found out that Lily’s sister had custody of Harry and I and figured it out pretty quickly that they didn’t treat us well and he just… helped heal me. He’s worked rather hard to keep me safe ever since.” She fell silent, blinking. “I was petrified in my second year and I heard him say the most curious thing… ‘I’m trying to protect you. Regulus can’t.’”

Regulus looked somewhat overwhelmed. “He looked after you all these years… for me?” 

She shrugged. “Perhaps, but I know for a fucking fact that I got under his skin more than he’d ever admit to anyone, including myself.” 

“He said you went back.” 

She looked at her hands, nodding a little as the memory of that day ran through her mind. “With the war picking up again… they were never meant to have me. They don’t deserve to die for a war from a world they were never meant to be involved in. I went back to Obliviate them, erase me from their memories and send them to Australia. But he lost it when he realized they’d forgotten me. He- they hate magic, so I had to trick them into letting us do anything, and he thought I’d… I don’t know. Erased their minds. By the time Theo managed to do anything, I was unconscious.”

“And you don’t want Sirius to know.”

“No. He’s too protective, too reactive. Remus told us a few things about him before we met, including his quick temper. I’m just worried he’ll overreact. And then you… are very different from him.”

“You were worried I would react how you expected him to?”

She nodded a little. “There are some things he doesn’t know that I think he  _ would _ lose his shit over, so I feel like someday when I do tell him, I’ll tell him those things too so he focuses on them."

“What could be worse than being mistreated?” 

Cassiopeia almost laughed but she stopped herself. “You weren’t my first  _ Crucio _ , Regulus.”

He tensed. “I know.”

“You know?”

“You… held out much longer than…” he shook his head and she nodded. 

“Last year, we had a DADA professor that was ministry appointed. She was… terrible,” she gave a humorless laugh at the understatement. “The ministry was running a press campaign against our family and Dumbledore, calling us liars and saying that Voldemort was still dead. Harry is… we grew up together. We’re not blood related, but he is my brother and… and he got away from the Dursley’s before I did and I didn’t want him to-,”

“Cassiopeia,” Regulus interrupted gently. “What happened?” 

“Umbridge pissed us all off in her first lesson. Harry and I yelled at her, but I managed to get detention before he could. That night in detention, she made me write lines. I have some nerve damage in my hand, so I didn’t notice it until some blood fell on the parchment, but…” she moved her hand over, letting him grab it gently to look at it. He was horrified, and she tried to give him a smile. “Snape helped me heal it that night but I’d been using it for too long. I didn’t let anyone know. We couldn’t get her fired anyway, not with the entire board of directors backing her.” 

“She scarred a daughter of the Black family,” Regulus muttered, his voice low and dark. “We can have her prosecuted for that.”

“Unfortunately, she’s not one of our biggest worries at the moment,” Cassiopeia muttered, gently pulling her hand back from him. “You won’t… freak out if I tell you this, will you?”

“I know how to remain calm,” he reminded her. She considered him and decided to trust him since she’d already put up wards around the room. 

“I got detention twice a week because if it wasn’t me, it would be Harry,” she explained slowly. “At those detentions, she tortured me. We started a group called the DA and practiced the Defense that she refused to teach us. She banned it and when we continued in secret, she used the Inquisitorial Squad to try and find us - which is hilarious because it was made up almost only my friends, who were part of the DA - and when that didn’t work for obvious reasons, she tortured me during one of my detentions and then poured Veritaserum down my throat.”

“That’s illegal,” Regulus whispered. She shrugged. 

“She didn’t get anything out of me, but I’ll admit my only idea was a bit… dark,” she winced. “I basically had to curse and hex myself until I was physically unable to speak. Theo found me that night and got Snape.” 

“And you never told Sirius,” Regulus repeated, staring at her in concern when she nodded. “I can’t imagine why you would put up with that, Cassiopeia.”

She sighed and crossed her arms when they began to shake again just a little bit. “After James and Lily died, Dumbledore helped push through a law that made it illegal for werewolves to work for Ancient and Noble Houses. That meant that when they named Remus as the Potter regent, he couldn’t do it. Umbridge put through a lot of these laws against werewolves, though, and we couldn’t really do anything about it while she was actively working for the ministry. So if she got fired, she’d have gone back to the ministry and we wouldn’t be able to fix the things she fucked up.”

He stared at her, his face carefully blank. She’d just admitted to going through literal torture just to keep the woman that tortured her out of the WIzengamot. “That is… extremely foolish, Cassiopeia.”

She rolled her eyes at him, surprising him. “Maybe, but there’s not much we can really do about it now, is there?”

“I see why Severus was so frustrated with you.”

Cassiopeia made a face at him. “He complains but he’s just worried about me. He worries more than he needs to.”

“Nothing you have said supports that statement,” Regulus pointed out. 

“Well our conversation hasn’t really been on happy things, has it?”

Regulus fell silent for a moment, looking at her carefully. Her entire body was shaking lightly and he could see her tense occasionally from pain. It was hard to look at, but he refused to look away. “I wanted to help you. I wanted to be there.”

“I know.”

* * *

**July 2nd, 1996**

**Potter Manor**

Sirius sat across from his brother, staring at him. He’d avoided him for the entire previous night, focusing instead on their sister, who eventually threatened to hex him if he continued smothering her, at which point he’d excused himself and gone to bed, preferring to sleep instead of confronting his problems, something he was now forced to do. 

“Stop staring, brother, and let it out,” Regulus scowled. “I have had more than enough of your moods.” 

“This is all your fucking fault.” 

Regulus raised an eyebrow, looking every bit the perfect Slytherin son Walburga had raised. “How?”

“If you had been there like you’d said - like you  _ promised _ her - then she never would have gone to Lily’s sister,” Sirius snapped. He was furious with his brother. Their sister had suffered for so long without them. She’d endured more than he even knew and then was sent back in time and tortured by her own brother. 

“The day we left was December 13th, 1979,” Regulus told him, as patient as possible. “Cassiopeia told me that it was only days before Father would fake their deaths, but that it was also the day I died. After I helped her escape and abandoned the Dark Lord, it wasn’t unbelievable to me that I may die soon.” 

“You should have stayed,” Sirius argued. “Tried harder!” 

“What about you?” Regulus asked him, his lips thinning. “You were safe with the Potters, but Cassie was stuck with Mother and Father and I.  _ You _ wanted to protect her as well, don’t forget that.  _ You _ failed too, Sirius.” 

“I know,” Sirius replied, the angry energy flooding out of him at the reminder. “I didn’t recognize her as Cassie even when we met three years ago. She saved my life, you know. If she hadn’t found me when she did, there’s a good chance the dementors would’ve gotten me. I didn’t recognize her and it wasn’t until I found Orion’s file on her adoption that I figured it out… I had no clue who she was, Reg.” 

“Neither did I,” Regulus whispered, memories of the past few days haunting him. “Bella was wholly uninterested in her so I stayed with her while we waited for the Dark Lord. When I asked her why he’d be interested in her, she told me she had knowledge that could end the war itself. I laughed at her.” 

“And then you tortured her.” 

“I did.” 

“Why did you stop, Reg? I’ve heard what you can do,” Sirius admitted. He’d heard reports of people that had been tortured to death, quick and with such harshness that it could almost be considered mercy. When he’d been sent to examine one of the bodies, he’d recognized his own brother’s magical signature. “Why did you stop?” 

Regulus frowned to himself. “The third day, she… do you remember what it does? Not just the body, but the mind.”

“How the fuck could I forget?” 

“On the third day, she came across some sort of memory that terrified her far more than I did. She started scratching her legs up and digging at her arms, crying more than she had the entire time. It was-,” he cut off, unwilling to describe how terrible it had truly been. “Something happened to her, Sirius, that was more terrifying than anything I could’ve done. I stopped her then because what I was doing was obviously less tortuous than whatever she was going through. That’s when her glamour fell and I realized who she was.” 

“What could have happened?” Sirius asked, worried. “She hasn’t told me of anything that would be worse than torture…”

“Perhaps she doesn’t think she can trust you with those sorts of secrets,” Regulus suggested lightly. “You do react rather strongly when those you love are in harm's way. Remember my first year?” 

“Yeah,” Sirius agreed. “Hexed Yaxley and got two months of detention.” 

“So you understand that perhaps she doesn’t want to give you any reason to react so strongly.” 

“I suppose,” he agreed reluctantly, leaning back in his chair. “What the fuck, Reg? You’re alive. What does this mean?” 

“It means that we focus on Cassie,” he replied easily. “Keep her safe and work on ending this war.” 

“Yeah,” Sirius agreed softly. “Yeah, I can do that.” 

* * *

Draco ducked the pillow that was sent his way, wincing when it hit Astoria instead. “Ah, shit. Sorry, love.” 

“Watch your back, Black.” 

Cassiopeia snickered but reached over for the pillow, propping it behind her head once more. “You’re gross.”

“Oh, and  _ that _ ,” Draco said, waving at the way she was nearly sitting on Blaise’s lap. “Isn’t gross?” 

“No, because  _ you’re _ my cousin and best friend, so it’s gross,” she replied, pecking Blaise’s cheek.

“Theo left,” Daphne exclaimed, running into the room. She grabbed onto the doorframe to catch herself, her eyes wide and panicked. “He’s hurt. His father is dead.”

“ _ Fuck _ ,” Cassiopeia cursed. She stumbled off of Blaise and to her feet. “Where is he? How bad is it?” 

“Downstairs,” Daphne answered. Cassiopeia ran past her, not bothering to wait for anyone else. When she got to the main floor sitting room at the bottom of the stairs, she gasped at the sight of a bleeding Theo being tended to by Mipsy. 

“Cas,” Theo greeted, wincing. She moved over to him and touched his face gently.

“What happened?” she asked quietly. She grabbed her wand to help heal him up while Mipsy focused on his chest where he’d been hit with some curse. 

“Voldemort,” Theo answered quietly. Cassiopeia quietly summoned a calming draught and handed it over. After taking it, he continued softly. “He came to our house and demanded I join him. Lucius was there. My father… he tried to insist I wasn’t ready but Voldemort wasn’t listening. So Father told me to leave and Lucius chased me. He… died."

“I’m so sorry,” Cassiopeia shook her head and pulled him into a careful hug. Not only was he still hurt, but she was also in a great deal of pain still and getting up so abruptly had hurt. 

“Sirius said if I ever-,”

“You can stay with us,” she assured him. “Voldemort wants us all dead, anyway.”

“Cassie.”

Cassiopeia turned to see Regulus looking between them with an eyebrow raised. Theo, who hadn’t known anything that had happened, was staring right back at him. “Ah. Hey. Do you know where Sirius is? We’ve got a… small issue.”

“He left earlier with Remus,” Regulus told her. “What is it?”

“Cas,” Theo looked at her. “Am I hallucinating or is that your dead brother?”

“Ah, no, you’re not hallucinating,” she shook her head. “You know how the Wizengamot meeting was canceled yesterday?”

“Yeah, you all went missing during recess.”

“A lot of shit happened,” she said shortly. “Dolohov followed me to the Veil room, we fought, I fell into the Veil and ended up in 1979 where Regulus and I returned to our time. He never died, I just took him here.”

“What happened?” Regulus asked again. “Who is he?”

“Theo Nott,” the boy introduced. “Voldemort just tried to recruit me. I escaped. Sirius said if I needed help I could come here, and it was the only place I could think of since Voldemort’s in Malfoy Manor and Lady Zabini and Blaise locked their home up.”

“It looks like you’re all patched up,” Cassiopeia offered him a small smile. “We’ll get you a room and I’ll send Sirius a Patronus. Or Harry. I’m a little stressed. Everyone’s upstairs.”

“Shaking again,” he muttered, grabbing her hand gently within his own. “Aren’t you taking your potions?” 

“I am,” she promised. “I’m fine. You’re the one that just fought bloody Lucius Malfoy. Did you hurt him?”

“I hit his shoulder with a gouging curse.”

Cassiopeia grinned. “Have I ever told you that I love you, Theo?”

“Quite a bit, actually.”

“Good.”

The floo chimed and flashed green. Regulus, Theo, and Cassiopeia all raised their wands at it, each of them tense from their recent events. Snape stepped out and looked at them with a scowl. 

“Put your wands down,” he ordered. 

“What’re you doing here?” Cassiopeia asked. She was the first to lower her wand, not to mention put it away entirely. “Occlumency isn’t until later.”

“The Dark Lord is furious at having lost another of the elite purebloods,” Snape explained, looking at Theo. “I am certain you are already aware, but he wants you on his side or dead. I came to ensure you got here safely.”

“I’m okay,” Theo assured the man. 

“Dolohov believes he has killed you,” Snape told Cassiopeia. “He will be upset when he realizes otherwise. Stay away from him.”

Cassiopeia scoffed. “I’m not bloody well going to go and have a fucking conversation with him, Professor.”

Snape’s lips thinned as the urge to take away points overcame him and he realized he couldn’t. 

“I’m going to go find everyone,” Theo squeezed her hand gently. “Come find me when you’re done with everything.”

She nodded. “I’m sure they’ll tell you everything that happened. Have Harry take you to a room. The one across the hall from me is open now that Sirius moved into his new rooms.”

Theo nodded and left the room to walk up the stairs carefully, leaving them behind in the room together for a silent, uncomfortable moment. 

“Can we have a moment?” Regulus asked Severus. The man looked to Cassiopeia first and, when she nodded, he left and shut the door behind him quietly. Regulus looked at her hesitantly, and she frowned back at him.

“What is it?”

“I understand he is here to help you with Occlumency as well.”

“Yeah…”

Regulus looked like he wasn’t sure how to say what he was thinking, but at her confused frown, he spoke. “I know that you have not had anyone else you can show these memories of your life to. After what happened the other day, he would understand if you are uncomfortable-,” 

“I’m not.”

“I only wish to make sure you know there are other options,” he explained calmly. “If you really do feel safe with him still, then I will leave it. But it’s important that you know you’re not stuck.” 

Cassiopeia watched his worried eyes quietly. She supposed she understood. While she’d had no idea how painful it would be to experience someone entering your mind when you weren’t prepared or willing, she thought it was likely common knowledge among purebloods who had learned Occlumency as a child. It was the reason she hadn’t mentioned it to any of her friends. She wasn’t entirely sure just how big of a deal it was, and she didn’t want them worrying. So Regulus’s concern over her continuing Occlumency with Snape made sense to her. 

“I won’t pretend I’m not worried,” she said carefully. “Because my mind still… it hurts. But breaking my trust once when he wasn’t the man that’s cared for me since I met him, that doesn’t erase everything he’s done for me. It doesn’t mean that I care for him any less or trust him any less. I am cautious, but I know that realistically, he would never hurt me. He likes to say that it’s his job to protect me, and that’s true, but I know he cares for me more than he’d ever admit, and that means I know he wouldn’t hurt me.” 

Regulus was staring at her silently, and she did her best not to shift under his gaze. It was a piercing gaze and made her somewhat uncomfortable as she felt like he was looking through her. 

“How can you look past what happened so easily?” 

Cassiopeia hummed. “I’m not. I just understand the situation completely and I know that you’d never have hurt me. Since I was eleven, I’ve known you were a Death Eater. I was never foolish enough to assume you didn’t take part in Death Eater activities. I knew you probably killed, tortured, whatever following Voldemort entails. But after talking to Sirius, I was certain that you’d never do that because you wanted to. Not how he spoke of you. He told me he wished you were braver, Regulus, and you  _ were _ . You could’ve shoved me through the floo, sent me to the Potters or the hospital, but you didn’t. You took me yourself so you could heal me and make sure I’m okay. Stealing two things from Voldemort is pretty damn brave. Something I’m rather proud of.” 

“You’re not scared?” he asked, looking a bit overwhelmed. She shook her head.

“Of course I am. I’ve been scared since the beginning of last year. Every time someone pulls their wand, I expect… something. When someone moves too fast, I’m prepared for a hit. It happens, but it doesn’t invalidate anything I just told you.” 

“You’ve been through so much,” he told her softly. Her small, sad smile did nothing to comfort him. “I’m sorry, Cassie.” 

“It’s not your fault,” she waved off his apology. “I’m okay now.”

“The war is back,” he disagreed. “And you’ll be at the center of it if what you told me of Harry is true.” 

“I can survive a war. I’ve survived everything so far.” She gave him a genuine smile. “Got you now, too.” 

“You do,” he agreed firmly, smiling back at her. “I’m not leaving you again. I’ll be here.” 

* * *

_ Cassiopeia was barely awake as Regulus lowered his wand after putting a stasis charm on her and left the room. It was dark now, and he hadn’t bothered to turn on any lights as the natural light from the windows faded. She assumed it was easier for him to do while he couldn’t see her clearly. She didn’t really blame him.  _

_ The door shut behind him and she focused once more on using wandless magic while bound. Truthfully, it was more like collecting energy for a wandless spell and shoving it deep inside her, festering for a moment of accidental magic when it would finally drop her glamour. She didn’t have much hope for that happening soon, considering how low her core was from the incident that sent her back in time to begin with.  _

_ She was startled by the door slamming open and then closed once more. She couldn’t move and wondered if Regulus was going to let her go. She dismissed the thought immediately. He had no reason to help a girl he didn’t know. He wanted to get the job done and get it done quick, she knew. He wouldn’t work for a full two days and then come release her.  _

_ “I heard you were a pretty one.”  _

_ Nausea rolled through her as she recognized Dolohov’s voice. He came around to meet her eyes and grinned ferally at her. She couldn’t speak or move, and he seemed to enjoy that as he looked over her.  _

Cassiopeia cried out in pain and grabbed her head as she shoved Snape out with all the energy she could muster. Watching the scene had frozen her in fear, and it had taken an uncomfortable amount of energy to end it before anything happened. 

“Tell me to leave next time,” he told her gently. He always was the most careful with her in their sessions, regardless of what she said. Trauma was a tricky thing, he knew, and expressed itself in different ways. 

“Couldn’t,” she ground out, wincing. With how pained her mind already had been, the force of ridding him from her mind only enhanced the damage. 

“What was that?” he asked carefully. 

“Regulus went to bed,” she answered slowly. “Dolohov said Voldemort sent him in to watch me.” 

“What happened, Cassiopeia?” 

“Bad things,” was her only answer.

“And you really want to face him at the Wizengamot Monday?” he questioned. He had no doubt she  _ could _ , it was more concern for what happened after. She was good at holding herself together when necessary, but afterward, she had a tendency to crash emotionally. 

“I face Crabbe and Goyle every year,” she replied softly. “How is this any different?”

“Because you haven’t spent any time healing from it. You saw a mind healer every day while you were gone then,” he reminded her. “Perhaps you should see one again.”

She let out a humorless laugh and finally let go of her head, straightening to look at him. “I’m too fucked up for that anymore. No, I’ll face him Monday and then with any luck, he’ll be arrested and I won’t have to face him again.” 

“As with before, nothing shows up on normal scans,” he said. “Are you certain you don’t need any spells or potions?” 

She hesitated. “I hadn’t thought about it. So much happened…” 

Snape nodded once and got up, leaving her in the library. She shifted on the couch she sat in, pulling her legs up and hugging them to her chest, letting her head fall down onto her knees and closing her eyes. She tried hard to forget what they’d just seen. She knew Snape would see it, of course. She had an irrational concern, however, that he’d tell someone. No one knew what had happened with Dudley or Crabbe and Goyle, and she’d somehow managed to keep the second incident with them from Snape, too, but it had happened once more and she wondered what was wrong with her that she couldn’t protect herself. 

A hand fell on her shoulder and she jumped back, wrapping her arms around herself as she looked up in fear. 

“It’s okay,” Regulus said, putting his hands up. “It’s just me.” 

“Oh,” she breathed shakily. “Sorry.” 

“Are you alright? I saw Severus leave.” 

“He’s finding something for me,” she answered him. “He’ll be back. We’re done with Occlumency for the day.”

“Do you need a calming draught?” he asked, looking over her face. She hadn’t relaxed yet, and her breathing was picking up. 

“I’m sure he’ll bring one,” she shook her head. “It’s fine, really.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

She let out a humorless laugh. “I don’t want to talk about this ever with anyone. I just want to forget it.” 

“He can do that,” he told her softly. “After putting shields up on it, he can-,”

“Well he won’t be, because he won’t be seeing it,” she snapped, though she didn’t mean to. She deeply regretted him seeing her memory of the attack in third year, though she knew it had been shown while she was terrified and in shock. They hadn’t revisited that memory, either, though he’d offered numerous times. “I’m… sorry. It’s just… there’s very little I keep from him, but what I do, I feel very justified in doing so. I know he doesn’t want to see it, either.”

“I want to help you,” Snape corrected as he entered the room, looking between the two siblings. He handed a potion over and after she drank it down, he slowly raised his wand and silently cast a spell on her as well. After that was finished, he handed her another potion and she drank that one down as well without question. 

“I thought you were fully healed,” Regulus said, looking to Severus. 

“She is now.” 

“I don’t need your help with this,” she mumbled to Snape, who raised an eyebrow at her. 

“You seem to be unaware of the position you are in,” he told her, referencing the way she’d folded in on herself the second he’d left the room. “I will not push, but those memories will not hurt any less until you take care of them, and once the rest of your mind is shielded, those memories will stick out since they will be the only ones left open.”

“I just want to sleep,” she muttered. 

“Go,” he sighed. “Take a dreamless sleep. I left another of the potion I just gave you with Mipsy to take in eight hours.”

“Then I’ll be okay?” she asked him with a deep, worried frown. 

“You should be now. I just think it best to be sure, thus the extra potion.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, pulling herself out of the couch and rushing from the room, leaving Regulus behind with Severus.

“What happened?” he asked his friend, already aware he wouldn’t tell him. “I haven’t seen you so unsettled since Sirius asked you to Hogsmeade as a joke in front of the entire school.” 

Severus scowled. “Nothing so ridiculous. She was injured in a way that our scans did not indicate. I don’t believe she would have told me on her own, either, which could have led to further… complications.” 

“Did this happen in the… past?” he asked, trying to figure it out. She was entitled to her privacy, of course, but he was worried he’d missed something important or dangerous, and it seemed he certainly had. 

“It did. As I told her, she should be fine now. I will make sure of that tomorrow when I come back.”

“You’ll be here tomorrow?” 

Severus made a face. “Your brother has demanded entrance to Hogwarts to retrieve Potter’s basilisk. He also says you have an idea about a Horcrux.” 

“I do,” Regulus agreed. “I was speaking with Draco and he mentioned a room in Hogwarts where you can hide anything. Harry seemed to know what the room was. It is only a guess, but I believe Ravenclaw’s diadem to be in there. Draco told me he saw something that matched the description in the room and the Grey Lady has always insisted it was still in Hogwarts. I believe it may be a Horcrux.” 

“Then you and Draco will come with and get it. Perhaps Cassiopeia as well. I can’t imagine she will allow you to hunt a Horcrux on your own.” 

“Is she okay?”

“Her only issue now should be the shakes and pains,” Severus assured him. “I will confirm so tomorrow.”

“And in the meantime?”

“Leave her alone. She needs time. The last time something of this magnitude happened, she was out of school for some time before she could return. Be gentle with her, but not too gentle, because she will hex you.” 

“So just like Sirius, then.” 

“It seems so.”

* * *


	19. Avada

**July 3rd, 1996**

**Hogwarts**

“I understand the whole spoils thing,” Harry called, ducking another pipe. “But why is it important all of us are here?” 

“ _ Because _ ,” Daphne told him with an eye roll. “While we’re down here collecting this, Draco, Cassiopeia, and Regulus are going to find the Horcrux. Do you listen at all when Snape talks?”

“No, not really.” 

“Come on,” Sirius called. “We’ve only got a few hours before Dumbles is back.” 

“ _ We _ don’t have to be gone by then, just Regulus,” Daphne pointed out. “Is he going to be okay avoiding everyone until this war is over?” 

Sirius shrugged. “He’s tough. Plus, there’ll probably be a point where it doesn’t matter anymore, so he just needs to hold out until then.”

“Holy shit,” Harry stared. “That seems a lot bigger than when I was twelve.” 

“You killed that,” Daphne laughed. “It’s supposed to look smaller now that you’re older.”

“Apparently not.” He paused. “I think I was more focused on making sure Ginny didn’t die than the size of it. I sure as hell wouldn’t have been able to kill it if I’d realized it was this big.”

“We only need the fangs,” Sirius told them. “There should be forty or so, so use the boxes I gave you and only handle them with your hands. We don’t want to die down here.” 

“Let’s get to work,” Daphne sighed, pointing her wand at the terrifying beast.

* * *

“Are we going to continue the DA?” Draco wondered, interrupting Cassiopeia’s focus. She glared at him. 

“I’ll turn you into a dummy and let the entire group practice on you if you don’t  _ shut up _ and let me focus!” 

“You’ve tried four times,” he told her. “Let me do it.”

“You can’t even remember what you asked for,” she shot back. 

“She’s cranky today,” Draco muttered. She stopped and pointed her hand at him, casting wandlessly. A pumpkin appeared over his head and just before he could try to pull it off, she cast a sticking charm. 

“ _ Now  _ he’s quiet,” she breathed in relief, beginning to pace again. Regulus waited until a door appeared to help Draco remove the pumpkin. 

“The fuck is wrong with you, Black?” he snapped at her. 

“Draco,” she said in a low, dangerous voice. “I’m having a very awful couple of days. Leave me alone.”

“Are you on your period or something?”

“Oh, no,” Regulus breathed out, watching as Cassiopeia’s hair began sparking angrily. 

“You two take care of this,” she said, looking to her brother. “I’m going to go find Snape and maybe hex Peeves.”

“You can’t-,”

“I’ll figure it out!” she yelled, pushing past Draco to rush down the hall, her hair still sparking dangerously. She cursed loudly all the way down to the dungeons, which was a rather long talk, and shoved the door open. Snape looked up at her and took in her furious state, letting her take a seat across from him. 

“What is it?”

“Draco,” she hissed. “He’s being an arse.” 

Snape sighed and  _ accio _ ’d a potion to him, handing it over. She drank it, feeling the anger and stress fall off of her. “May I suggest once more that you see a mind healer?” 

“I don’t want a mind healer,” she told him. “Not again. I hated it the first time. Telling someone I don’t trust so many things about me that I don’t want anyone else to know… no.” 

“Then the only other suggestion I have is to go over the memory,” he shook his head. “It does not have to be me, but someone you trust. They can shield the memory and attach a notice-me-not to it. It’s what mind healers usually do with traumatic events.”

“I didn’t let my mind healer into my head,” she admitted. 

“I assumed as much.”

“I don’t… want you to see it,” she told him softly. “I don’t like that you saw…. But I don’t know who to trust with this.” 

“Mister Zabini?”

She shook her head quickly. “I love him and maybe I will tell him one day. I know I can. But I don’t want him to see it. I think it might be all I could think about every time I saw him if I did.” 

“Understandable. Then perhaps Regulus. He is your brother, I know, but you truthfully do not have many people you trust. Only your family and friends. He has done something of the sort before for a girl we were in school with, so he knows how.”

“He has?” 

Snape nodded. “Lily’s friend was attacked in the library. Lily and I were not speaking, and she trusted Regulus. She tried very hard to get him and Sirius speaking again. She begged your brother to help her friend.” 

“What if he…” she trailed off, her voice turning to a whisper. “I don’t want him to think I’m weak.”

“You are not weak,” Snape told her sharply. “It takes a certain strength, however foolish it may be, to allow yourself to be tortured to protect someone you love. It takes strength to care for Regulus… for myself after what happened merely days ago for you.” 

Cassiopeia looked down at her hands. “I’ll think about it.” 

* * *

Draco sat the horcrux down on the ground. “I’m not doing it. That thing gives me the creeps.” 

“I’m not,” Cassiopeia muttered. “Not after the week I’ve had.” 

“No thanks,” Harry agreed. 

“I need to live to be Lord Black, so I’ll stay here,” Sirius muttered. 

“You’re all wimps,” Daphne accused, putting her gloves back on and grabbing a fang. 

“Careful,” Harry told her. “The diary fought back via Tom Riddle. This might do the same.” 

“Don’t worry, love,” Daphne winked. “I’ll be fine.” 

The group watched in concern as she gripped the fang tightly within her hand and approached the diadem. She was almost to it when she was enveloped by a black fog. They couldn’t see what she could, but they could hear it. 

“-disappointment,” a woman’s voice was saying. “Astoria would’ve been so much better without you. You’re too weak to run this family. I wish we’d never had you.” 

“Motherfucker!” Daphne screamed. The shifting fog froze before it sank abruptly to the ground, revealing a furious looking Daphne who was covered in some sort of black goo.

“Merlin,” Sirius laughed, patting Harry on the back. “Your girlfriend is badass. She just resisted a psychological attack from fucking Voldemort.”

* * *

**July 8th, 1996**

**The Wizengamot**

Sirius glanced at his sister as she openly downed two calming draughts. Typically, it was unwise to take more than one in a six-hour window, but Snape had handed her two, and as much as he hated the man, Snape knew much more about Cassiopeia’s mental state than anyone else, so he knew she must need both of the potions. 

They were concerned for the moment Dolohov found out Cassiopeia was alive. They’d tried to convince her to stay home, but she’d loudly disagreed, and after she’d hexed Harry twice, they gave in, for no reason other than Harry’s quickly dwindling health. 

Dolohov was speaking with Dodson somewhere far to the right, which meant he hadn’t noticed Cassiopeia there as of yet. His arm was in a sling, much to Sirius’s amusement. The man had had it coming, attacking Cassiopeia like that. 

Cassiopeia was sat next to him in the heir seat, tapping her foot fast as they waited for Dumbledore to arrive. So far, everyone - Houses and Ministry as well as Public - had arrived, but Dumbledore had not. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sirius asked her quietly. She shot another glare at him, and he shrugged. “You just took two calming draughts and you’re  _ still _ nervous. Did he really scare you that bad, kitten?” 

“Yes.” 

“Okay,” he sighed. She was a stubborn girl, just like the rest of their family, and he knew it was unlikely he’d be able to change her mind. “But if you need me to-,”

“I won’t,” she promised. 

“Okay.” 

“Good morning,” Dumbledore called, having taken his seat. “I, Albus Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, do call this rescheduled session of the Wizengamot to order today, July 8th, 1996.” 

“House matters first,” Penbrook told them as he opened the book. When he looked down, he let out a tired sigh. “Lord Sirius Black-,”

“Oh for Merlin’s sake! I thought you were done!” someone called. Everyone was obviously sick of the constant announcements from the House of Black at every meeting and, truthfully, they were as well.

“As did we,” Sirius replied. 

“Lord Sirius Black has declared official issue with the House of Dolohov. They are also pressing charges against Antonin Dolohov for attacking their heir, Cassiopeia Narcissa Black.” 

Cassiopeia looked over as the man in question stared at her angrily, a hunger in his eyes that made her shiver. 

“What happened?” Lady Longbottom asked. “No one has officially declared issue with a house in a century.” 

“Last month, Dolohov grabbed me in the Department of Mysteries during a battle against Death Eaters,” Cassiopeia said, standing as she spoke, staring straight ahead. “He hexed me badly and I could have died. Then last week during recess, he cornered me and threatened me. He took my wand and was going to take me from the Ministry and I was barely able to fight him off wandlessly, though it drained me dangerously.” 

“Dolohov is a creepy motherfucker,” Lady Marchbanks declared. “Good on you!” 

“Lady Marchbanks,” Penbrook called. “Language.”

“Sometimes normal words just aren’t enough to express what I’m feeling,” she defended. 

“Recognized,” Dumbledore interrupted. 

“This is not a filed House matter,” Penbrook said, frowning down at the book as if he hadn’t read it correctly. “But the Ministry records declared Regulus Arcturus Black as alive on July 1st, 1996.” 

“Ah, motherfucker,” Cassiopeia cursed loudly. 

“See!” Lady Marchbanks waved, her grey hair falling into her face. “She gets it! What a good time to curse!” 

“Miss Black,” Dumbledore said. “Do you know of this?” 

“You’re all nosy and annoying,” she told him. 

“Miss Black,” Penbrook called. “If you know what happened, please explain.”

“Fine, but it’s all Dolohov’s fault,” she nodded firmly. “During the recess last week, I went to take a walk. I found myself drawn to the Veil room by a voice calling out to me and Dolohov followed me there. When I was standing in front of the Veil, he told me what it was and told me he was going to take me and… take me. He’d taken my wand before I noticed him, so I fought him off wandlessly, but I passed out. I fell into the Veil and was woken up - please don’t freak out, I have a headache - I woke up in 1979.”

“...excuse me?”

“I did,” she promised. “I was in Potter Manor, where James and Lily Potter told me where I was. Sirius showed up as well. I left because I wanted to find the brother I hadn’t met, and I got captured by a Death Eater. He looked into my mind and took me to Voldemort, who then realized I was from the future and know too much about him, so he…”

“You don’t have to,” Sirius told her. She shook her head. 

“Regulus was there. I was disguised with brown hair and eyes and called myself Belle, so he didn’t recognize me as family. Voldemort ordered him to torture me to death, and he did until I managed to remove the glamour. He helped me escape and healed me up until I could get home, at which point I took him with me.”

“And where is Mister Black?”

“None of your damn business,” she snapped. 

“It is the business of the Ministry to track Death Eaters,” Dumbledore told her. Fury rose up in her as she stared at his disgustingly light blue eyes. 

“Then track fucking Dolohov. Regulus was never loyal to Voldemort, especially after I was born. He swore a blood oath to protect me and that meant from Voldemort as well. And he did that by helping me get home. It’s none of your business where he is.”

“If you were tortured so recently, then why do you look perfectly fine?” Bulstrode asked her with a sneer, one that she returned. 

“Because the  _ ministry appointed professor _ tortured me twice a week all school year,” she spat. “I’m used to torture, thanks to all of you.” 

“I did no such thing!” Umbridge denied loudly. 

“Kitten, what are you talking about?” Sirius asked her, his eyes widening. “You didn’t-,”

“She did,” Harry agreed. “She just refused to let anyone tell you.” 

Sirius looked pissed at a great deal of things, including Cassiopeia and Harry both for not telling him, but mostly at Umbridge. “ _ You tortured the daughter of an Ancient and Noble House _ .”

“You have no proof! I did nothing!” 

“Check her fucking hand,” Harry spat at the woman. “Blood quill for how long, Cassie?”

“Like five hours,” Cassiopeia agreed. “I have nerve damage in that hand so I didn’t notice it until it was too late. Professor McGonagall found me roaming the castle with blood dripping from my hand. You can ask her about it.”

“These are very serious accusations,” Dumbledore told her carefully. Cassiopeia scowled at him. 

“Surely Snape told you. He told you how the Dursleys treated us. I can’t imagine he wouldn’t tell you about this. She nearly  _ killed me _ . I had to be removed from the school for two days to be healed after the first time she used the  _ Cruciatus _ .”

“I did no such thing!” Umbridge screeched furiously, jumping to her feet. “I never touched her!” 

And then she raised her wand. 

While both Daniel and Sirius raised their wands to shield Cassiopeia, the girl herself threw a dagger at Umbridge. It hit her wrist just after she shot off a  _ Cruciatus _ . Unfortunately, normal shields weren’t enough to block the Unforgivable and it hit her. 

Sirius grabbed her before she could fall while Umbridge was chased out of the Wizengamot hall. Cassiopeia gripped at Sirius’s arm and rested her head on the other one. There were shouts about the hall and Dumbledore was working hard on getting everyone quiet. Eventually, he just shot up sparks and yelled for silence. 

“Miss Black, are you alright?”

“Of course she isn’t,” Sirius snapped angrily. Cassiopeia waved him off and pushed herself up. 

“I’m okay,” she promised. “Did Umbridge-,”

“She got away,” Amelia answered her, glaring at Dumbledore. Only he could order the guards to open and close the doors and for whatever reason, he’d not done it. “Mister Penbrook, can we pause this session?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Dumbledore disagreed. 

“A girl’s been tortured,” Augusta Longbottom told him, disgusted. “You let the woman that tortured her get away!”

“Let me put it another way,” Amelia suggested. “As the Head of the DMLE, I  _ will _ be cutting this meeting short. Call a recess or end it - whatever you do, it’s over for now.”

The session was given a recess and Amelia called a group of people down to the floor to talk quietly. Harry, Sirius, Cassiopeia, Dumbledore, and Amelia made their way to the middle of the large floor and met at Penbrook’s standing desk. 

“Albus, answer me truthfully. Did you know Miss Black was being tortured by her teacher?”

Dumbledore looked at Cassiopeia for a moment before smiling sadly at Amelia and nodding. “Severus brought it to my attention a few weeks into the last school year. Unfortunately, we could not have gotten her fired or arrested. The ministry backed her. Additionally, Miss Black did not report it.”

“You think stumbling to Snape and passing out on him doesn’t count as reporting it?” she asked him with a sneer. “The  _ reason _ I didn’t tell anyone is that I wanted to keep her out of the Ministry. She’s done a lot of damage here.”

“Cassie, that’s not enough reason,” Sirius stared at her in horror. “And Snape  _ knew _ ?” 

“ _ Snape _ is my first magical guardian,” she shot back. “He was helping me. Keeping me safe, healing me. The only thing that would’ve happened had he told you is that you two would’ve argued.” 

“I’m your guardian,” Sirius reminded her, looking extremely frustrated and concerned. “You need to see a healer, Cas. Prolonged torture like that… it’s dangerous.” 

“We will send her to a healer,” Amelia assured him. “Miss Black, may I see your hand?”

Cassiopeia removed the glamour over the scars and showed everyone the words. Sirius threw his head back and cursed loudly, his words echoing in the chamber. 

“Calm down,” Harry said, noticing the stress on Cassiopeia’s face. They hadn’t spent much time together, but they were still brother and sister - they were still close, and he knew when something was just a little too much for her. 

Amelia inspected the scar quietly before nodding. “And the torture? What did she do?”

“Cruciatus,” she answered softly. “She also gave me Veritaserum after torture while I was tied up once. She… didn’t get anything out of me.”

“ _ How _ ?” Sirius asked, pausing to stare at her. “You can’t resist Veritaserum, kitten.”

“I ensured I was unable to reply,” she answered slowly. 

“Albus, do you deny having knowledge of this?” Amelia questioned him. He looked pale and vaguely stuck. 

“No, but-,”

“Then I am sorry,” she shook her head. “Until this is all sorted, you cannot work in an official position at the ministry.”

“This is ridiculous,” Dumbledore scoffed. 

“What, it was just a little torture?” Cassiopeia asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“We don’t have anything against you personally, Albus,” Sirius said, putting a hand on her arm. “But we need this mess worked out. Cassie has been hurt far too many times.”

“Who will oversee the Wizengamot, then?” Cassiopeia wondered, looking to Penbrook.

“The next in line if there is no Chief Warlock is the Head of the DMLE.”

* * *

The rest of the Wizengamot meeting was rather boring after the announcement of Dumbledore’s removal. Sirius and Cassiopeia had gone to Hogwarts to apologize to the man just to keep things without tension, mostly for Cassiopeia’s sake since she’d be going back to school in two months. After that, they headed home and met with Regulus to give him the news. 

“What did you tell them?”

“I didn’t mention Snape,” she promised. “Mixed company and all. But I told them that Dolohov attacked me and that I was captured but not by who and the truth after that for the most part.” 

“We should be prepared for the Dark Lord’s response,” Regulus muttered thoughtfully. “I imagine we will not be the most important thing to him, but we will need to be careful."

“Good news, though,” Sirius grinned. “Dumbledore was removed as Chief Warlock and replaced by Amelia Bones. I think Daniel and I are going to work on getting her placed as Minister as well.”

“Who will replace her as Head of the DMLE?” Cassiopeia questioned. 

“Kingsley,” Sirius shrugged. “He trained under Moody after James and I graduated to Hit Wizards. He was top of his class and he’s still brilliant. He’ll keep a good handle on keeping Death Eaters out of the DMLE.”

“And where are we at on the Horcrux hunt?”

“Nowhere further,” Sirius said, though Cassiopeia hesitated. “Cassie?”

“I don’t… want to say anything until I’m certain because you will… react strongly.”

“Cas?”

She let out a slow breath and sat back in her chair, combing her fingers through her wild black curls. “We know that Gryffindor’s dagger was found at Godric’s Hollow, yes? It was tested and came back clean - just a dagger.” 

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Well,” she breathed, looking at Regulus because it was easier than looking at Sirius. “I think a Horcrux was made that night. Do you remember what can be made Horcruxes?”

“People and things,” Regulus said, his eyes widening just a little in understanding.

“What? What is it?”

“If you do not remain calm, I will hex you,” Regulus warned. When Sirius waved him on impatiently, he furrowed his brow. “Cassiopeia believes that Harry was made a Horcrux.”

“ _ Fuck _ !” 

“That’s not very calm.”

“How do you know?” he asked her, his eyes desperate. 

“His scar,” she replied softly. “It hurt whenever he looked at Quirrelmort and he can get visions straight from Voldemort that Occlumency - that  _ I _ taught him - never helped with. He’s obviously got a connection to him. Besides, there is clearly dark magic in his scar that no one has ever bothered or managed to remove from there. He has mood swings and was angry almost constantly last year. Fortunately, I think I know how to fix it.” 

“How?” 

“He has to die.” 

“ _ No _ .”

“Relax,” she waved him off. “He’ll come back as long as we just use the killing curse. If we use a fang or fiendfyre, it’ll destroy his body, the vessel, and he won’t be able to come back. I have the same theory for Voldemort’s snake, Nagini, but I don’t mind letting her die, too.”

“His snake is a Horcrux?” Sirius questioned, looking rather exhausted. 

“I think so. Harry told me about the dreams he had and it sounded like he was connected to the snake as well, which would make sense if its a piece of the same soul that is inside him.”

“Ah, fuck.”

“We can have a curse breaker look Harry over first,” Regulus suggested. “Those that are in Egypt specifically are trained to recognize older black magicks like a Horcrux.”

“I know who can do it, then,” Cassiopeia grinned. “God, I haven’t seen him since the second task in fourth year.”

“Who’s that, kitten?”

“Bill Weasley.”

* * *

**July 13th, 1996**

**Potter Manor**

“Cassiopeia!” Bill exclaimed, wrapping her up in a hug, one she returned happily. He pulled back to raise an eyebrow. “Or is it Miss Black? You’re the heir of an Ancient and Noble House.”

Cassiopeia smacked his arm. “Stop it. I get enough jokes about it at school.”

He ruffled her hair with a smile and looked around the room to spot her brothers watching them curiously. He leaned over to whisper. “Your guard?”

“Definitely,” she rolled her eyes. “Don’t mind them. You’re sure you don’t mind? We can pay you, Bill.”

“Stop,” he laughed. “I told you, family is free.”

“You don’t have time for more siblings,” she rolled her eyes. “You didn’t then, either. I was fine!” 

“You were scolded by Snape and  _ still _ overloaded your schedule,” he disagreed. “Fred and George never write me about anything other than pranks and girls, and they wrote me about you. They were obviously worried. Even Ginny wrote me, Cassie.”

“I’m a girl,” she tried, only to be laughed at. “Shut up.”

“You gonna introduce us, kitten?” Sirius asked, eyeing Bill, who offered him a smile. 

“Sorry,” she said, not sounding sorry at all. “Sirius, Regulus, this is Bill Weasley. We met in my third year because his brothers are nosy and annoying.”

“We met because she went behind Snape’s back and managed to get a time turner from Dumbledore and when Snape found out, he made her drop two classes, and yet she still managed to find herself enough work that she rarely slept,” Bill corrected, laughing at her pout. “My brothers wrote me because I tried taking nearly as many classes as her and they thought I had some sort of advice to give her.”

“Did you?”

“No,” he grinned. “I survived off of coffee and Pepper-Up for about four years.”

“Well as Cassie said, we’re willing to pay you,” Sirius assured him. “This is extremely important and requires oaths and vows.”

“Really?” Bill raised an eyebrow at Cassiopeia, who hadn’t mentioned that. “Well, as long as they don’t interfere with my Gringott’s oaths and vows, that’ll be fine.” 

“Great,” Sirius smiled, leading him to a nearby sitting room. “Let’s get talking.”

* * *

Harry looked between the group of four in confusion. The sight of three Black siblings was a bit intimidating, though he wouldn’t admit that. The redhead next to them was a stark contrast, considering the smile on his face compared to the grim looks on his godfather and his siblings. 

“Is that even possible?"

“It’s been heard of,” Bill confirmed. “As long as you’re uninjured in a deadly fashion, you’d live indefinitely. The issue, however, is that if we don’t get rid of the Horcrux, Voldemort can’t die, which means this war can’t end, and-,”

“And basically the war depends on someone killing me,” Harry mumbled. “Cool. Just what I wanted.” 

“I think this is why Dumbledore tried to keep us with the Dursley’s,” Cassiopeia spoke up. “He wanted you to be so miserable that you’re willing to sacrifice your life because he already knows that you’re a Horcrux. Bastard.” 

“You really think he’d do something so cruel?” Bill asked her with a frown. All three Black siblings nodded together.

“He has much more control over Hogwarts than he admits,” Cassiopeia told him bitterly. “He could’ve prevented Umbridge from working there.”

“Okay, and…?”

“You haven’t heard?” she blinked in surprise. “Even your mum knows. The entire Wizengamot knows!”

“What?”

“The twins know! Hell, Ron knows!”

“Cassiopeia,  _ what _ ?”

“Umbridge spent a very long time using the Cruciatus on Cassie,” Sirius answered the man stiffly. He still hadn’t figured out how to discuss the matter with his sister, so he was putting it off. "Dumbledore knew about it and never did a thing.”

“She almost died,” Harry added, making a face.

Bill looked between them, waiting for them to tell him it was a joke. When they didn’t, his eyes fell on the young girl in front of him, who looked irritated instead of furious or hurt. “How have I not heard of this?”

“No clue,” she shrugged. “But Umbridge attacked me in front of the entire Wizengamot the other day, so she’s been arrested.”

“No offense,” Harry said, gathering their attention again. “But can we get back to the part where you told me I have to die?”

“Right,” Bill frowned. “It should be very simple. You’ll be hit with the killing curse - here’s to hoping it works this time - and you’ll die. Then you’ll come back.”

“That sounds absolutely terrifying,” Harry stared. “And who exactly plans to  _ Avada _ me?”

“Me,” Regulus said, gathering stares. “What? I’ve done it before.”

“So have I,” Sirius said.

“I have, too,” Cassiopeia added. 

“ _ When _ ?” Harry stared along with everyone else. She shrugged. 

“At the DOM. Someone was about to push Draco into the room with the black water stuff and it was the only thing I could think of,” she defended. “I did what I needed to do to save my friend. My cousin.” 

“We’re not judging you,” Sirius told her gently. “Just worried.” 

“Well, looks like we’ve got a nice selection,” Bill told Harry lightly. “You’ll be okay, really.” 

“Fine, then just get it over quick, because I don’t want to-,”

“ _ Avada Kedavra _ !” Regulus muttered. Sirius barely had time to grab Harry before he fell and he stared at his brother in shock as he lowered the teenager to the ground.

“The fuck, Reg?”

“He said to do it quickly and there was no need to let him work himself up,” Regulus reasoned. 

“ _ Holy shit _ ,” Harry gasped as his eyes snapped open. 

“See?” Bill grinned. “You’re fine!” 

“I saw our parents,” he told Cassiopeia, his eyes wide. 

“You did?” Sirius asked, freezing. 

“They’re happy,” Harry confirmed. “Happy for us and Dad said to tell you he told you so.” 

“He told me so?”

“He said he knew Regulus wasn’t a dick.”

Sirius’s lips quirked up. “Yeah, I guess he did.”

“Mum hit him for saying dick in front of me.” 

“That sounds about right.”

* * *

“She  _ what _ ?” Draco yelled, his head snapping to look at his cousin, who was startled awake from her place sleeping with her head in Theo’s lap. Everyone was gathered in Cassiopeia’s bedroom and Harry had been sitting with Draco and Blaise, watching them play wizard’s chess while they spoke softly about their day, which included him talking about the meeting with Bill. 

“Shut up,” she told him. “I have a headache.”

“You fucking killed someone for me?” he asked her loudly. Her gaze slipped to Harry, who looked rather regretful. 

“God, I can’t tell you shit,” she muttered. “It’s not big deal, Draco. He was going to kill you. What else was I supposed to do?” 

“You didn’t tell me you killed someone,” Daphne said curiously. 

“Because it wasn’t important,” she said, closing her eyes again as Theo stroked her hair, watching her in worry. “Believe it or not, I don’t tell you guys everything that happens in my life.”

“You can’t have killed someone for me,” Draco complained. “I owe you a life debt!” 

“Okay, take that debt and shove it up your ass,” she suggested, making Astoria snort in laughter. “Seriously, Draco, it’s unimportant.”

“It is not!” he complained. “Life debts are a big deal, Black.”

“You can’t call me Black,” she laughed. “It’s your last name now, too.”

“I can because I know I’m not talking about myself,” he denied.

“This is a ridiculous argument,” Astoria told them. “Shut up, both of you. I want to watch Blaise kick your ass at wizard’s chess, Draco.”

“He won’t,” Draco said, his attention redirected easily, much to Cassiopeia’s relief. She’d kept the news from her friends for a reason. She didn’t want to see their looks of concern, the exact reason she’d closed her eyes. She’d only told Harry about it because she’d hoped to spare her brothers the pain of casting the curse again. Unfortunately, Regulus was ahead of them in that matter. She supposed it made sense that he might not hesitate to cast it again the way she and Sirius did, but it didn’t make her any less upset that he’d done it.

“So you’re telling me you died,” Daphne questioned her boyfriend.

“Yeah.”

“You’re an arsehole,” she snapped. “What if you’d stayed dead?”

“...I was promised I wouldn’t.”

“Merlin, I hate you,” she muttered, getting up and leaving the room. Cassiopeia opened her eyes to find Harry frowning in confusion.

“Go after her,” she rolled her eyes. “She’s mad because she could’ve lost you.” 

“Oh.”

Before she could close her eyes again as he left, Blaise sat down next to her, smiling at Theo. “Mind if I steal my girlfriend from you? You can continue your little cuddle session later.”

“Sure,” Theo laughed softly, getting up after Cassiopeia moved to lean against Blaise instead, resting her head on his chest when he laid back for her. 

“Why’d you tell him?” he asked her quietly. 

“I didn’t want them to have to do it,” she replied. “Regulus just escaped and Sirius… I guess I don’t want him to have to fight like that again, even if he wasn’t fighting. It’s our turn. They should be finished with theirs already.” 

“I’m worried about you,” he admitted to her. “You’re different lately. Ever since you got back. Is it because Regulus-,”

“No,” she interrupted. “Not at all. It’s… can we talk? Privately? Snape suggested I tell you, anyway.”

He hummed and leaned up, offering her his hand, which she took. He led her down the hall to his room where she set up privacy charms and sat across the bed from him, crossing her legs. 

“Ah,” she breathed. “It’s harder to… say it out loud.”

“You don’t have to,” he assured her. When she shook her head, he put his hand on her cheek. “I mean it, Cas. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to or until you’re ready. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I know,” she promised, biting her lip hard. “It’s… something happened back then, in the past. Regulus took a break and Voldemort sent someone in to watch me,” she told him slowly. She couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes, the fear that he’d be disgusted by her or ashamed of her overtaking her. 

“And something happened.”

“Yeah. It was… late. I couldn’t move or talk or really make noise because Voldemort wanted to make sure that I couldn’t tell Regulus who I was, and… shit,” she whispered, feeling tears welling up. “Oh, shit.” 

Blaise grabbed her hand gently, rubbing the back of it with his thumb as she sucked in deep breaths and willed the tears away. 

“He took advantage of that, and he…” she shook her head, unwilling to say it. Saying it made it real, made it impossible to ignore. “He raped me.”

Blaise breathed out hard, his eyes on her tense shoulders and terrified face. He could tell she was afraid of how he’d react, so he leaned forward and slowly pulled her into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Cas.” 

“Snape ran into the memory,” she whispered. “He wants me to have Regulus help me with it because he’s done it before, it’s just that… it’s happened before, Blaise. How could I show my  _ brother _ something like that?” 

“You don’t have to answer me,” he told her softly. “But was it third year?”

Cassiopeia nodded quietly. “I don’t even remember going to your dorm. Snape said I was in shock. He got… stuck in my mind, watching it the way that I was. That’s why I was gone so long, at least to me. They wanted to make sure I was okay… mentally, but I refused to let them touch my mind or my memories, so they had to send me back to school.” 

“Merlin,” he breathed, stroking her arm gently. 

“There’s… there’s more,” she sucked in a short, shaky break. She could feel herself shaking and knew it wasn’t from the torture. “Um… So before third year, I was cleaning in the bathroom and Dudley came in and… I don’t know. He was being so weird and he scared me. He touched my arm so I just cut his with the dagger and ran away. That’s why we showed up at Daphne and Astoria’s so early. But  _ after _ third year, I was alone. Dudley read one of my letters to or from Sirius, I don’t really know which. He found out that I was adopted so in his mind, it was… okay. I don’t remember too much of that because I hit my head and passed out, but when I woke up… shit. I nearly killed him trying to get him off of me, Blaise. Snape had to heal him.”

“All of that blood on you,” Blaise whispered. What she was saying made a great deal of sense, including how scared she’d been when she returned and how careful Harry had been around her. “When you came back.”

She nodded quietly. Tears were falling freely now and she knew she had to keep going. She needed to for herself. “There was- there was another,” she said in a whisper. “In fourth year, Goyle caught me coming back from the library. He… it was just him. When he let me go, I went to the bathroom and got cleaned up but when I was going to find Daphne, Snape took me for the second task and I just… I couldn’t do it. He was in such a hurry and he didn’t notice anything was wrong so I just tried to move on, but then Dolohov- and now I know why he keeps trying to take me and I’m so  _ scared _ , Blaise.”

“It’s okay,” he whispered, pulling her into his arms. She’d accidentally let it slip that it was Dolohov that had hurt her and he was focusing so much of his energy on not reacting to that while the rest went to comforting her. 

They spent that night in his room, her crying occasionally and him comforting her every time, holding her and ensuring she knew she was safe.

* * *


	20. Bonds

**July 20th, 1996**

**Potter Manor**

It was odd to Cassiopeia to spend so much time not avoiding being attacked by Vernon or Dudley. Unfortunately, the habits of doing so hadn’t quite disappeared. Her friends helped her cover it up and so had Regulus, but she knew Sirius was aware that something was very wrong with her when he sat down in front of her in the library and frowned at her, sitting stiffly instead of relaxed like he normally would be.

“Sirius?” she asked cautiously, lowering her book. He’d closed the doors to the library, and she watched as he put up a privacy ward around them. “Sirius, what’s wrong? You’re making me nervous."

“I’m worried about you, kitten,” he told her slowly. “I thought perhaps it was because of Umbridge and then what happened in the past, but the more I watch you, the more familiar it seems.”

All Cassiopeia wanted to do was  _ run _ . She wasn’t prepared for this conversation, especially not with Sirius. She wasn’t sure she ever would be. She knew that ever since he found out she was his sister, he had watched her. She’d known he was, but she hadn’t realized  _ why _ , and she kicked herself mentally for not guessing it. 

“What are you talking about?” she asked, forcing herself to stay put. The energy that was building up in her was expelled only by the way she tugged and twisted at a loose thread and gripped her wand in her pocket with her other hand. She forced herself not to tap her foot since just about everyone knew that was a sign she was anxious. It took more effort than expected to keep her foot firmly on the ground. 

“There are so many, Cassie,” he told her gently. “You shouldn’t have so many. Remember when you got cursed after the DOM? Madame Pomfrey had to tell me that she found suspicious scars all over. You shouldn’t have those, Cas.”

“It’s not important,” she shrugged. “I’m okay now.”

“It’s important to me.”

“It’s my fucking business,” she snapped, getting to her feet, unable to stay still any longer. “And I’m  _ fine _ , so just leave it, Sirius.”

“You’re  _ not _ fine,” he replied just as calmly as before, which just made her angrier. “You know Mother used to punish us, me, mostly, for disobeying her. That came with hexes, curses, even muggle things like hits. I know the signs, Cassie, because I used to be where I  _ know _ you were. I asked Harry about it, even made him prove it, but he doesn’t have scars like you do. Why?”

“Why does it matter?” she turned on her heel to stare at him, willing the tears not to fall. She didn’t care how loudly she was speaking - or yelling - since Sirius had put up the privacy wards. Besides, everyone in the house already knew about it, save for Remus. “They can’t fucking touch me anymore, Sirius! I’m here, so just leave it alone!” 

“Except I can’t,” he told her gently. “You’re not okay, Cas. You’re still scared. I’ve seen how your friends act around you and it’s just how Remus and James used to act around me. Even Regulus is careful.”

“Regulus is careful around everyone,” she denied, mostly because there was a deep feeling of guilt over telling Regulus before Sirius. 

“No, kitten, he isn’t. Not like this. I know our brother better than you, and I’m sorry for that, but I know when he’s being careful and when he’s just being quiet and all… pureblood.”

“This is ridiculous,” she told him, though quieter now. 

“You spent the night in Blaise’s room last week,” he told her. She stiffened. She wasn’t sure how he knew that, but she needed him to stop. “Was that because-,”

“No,” she said, her voice low and dark. “Leave that, Sirius. I mean it.” 

“Okay,” he agreed after looking at her stiff figure for a long moment. “I’m not saying you don’t deserve to have your secrets or to hide the things that have hurt you, Cas, but this is big. I don’t want to be in the quiet about it and fuck up because I don’t know to be careful about certain things.”

“I  _ hate _ that everyone acts like I’m about to break,” she told him. “I liked you not knowing because it meant that you just treated me normally. I like it because when I’m around you, I get to be a normal person. Not all… damaged, at least in that sense.” 

“I know more about that than you’d guess,” he told her with a small smile. “I’m not going to treat you like you’re about to break, kitten.”

Cassiopeia hesitated. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Oh.”

Sirius considered her for a moment. “Can I ask you a few questions?” 

She looked once more ready to run but nodded once, though she began pacing in front of the couch she’d been on before. 

“What’s the worst it’s gotten?” 

Cassiopeia hesitated. “It was usually Vernon and- and Dudley when Petunia and Harry weren’t around. That’s why he doesn’t know. I don’t want him to know because I know him and he’d blame himself."

“I won’t tell him anything.”

“Dudley… attacked me before fourth year,” she said slowly, focusing on keeping her voice steady. It wasn’t going very well and she tried to take in a few deep breaths to calm herself. “Bad. He knocked me out and I nearly killed him when I woke up. Snape had to heal him before taking me to the hospital. Um… Vernon, he… I think he wanted to kill me? He choked me multiple times and… I don’t really know why he never actually killed me.”

“Shit,” Sirius cursed softly. “Oh, fuck, Cassie. I’m sorry. I should’ve just told you to come stay with me, damn the law.” 

Cassiopeia shook her head. “You would’ve gotten in trouble. I’d rather have you now than you go back to Azkaban.”

“We can have them arrested,” he said, perking up. “We can prosecute them.”

“No,” she said firmly. “We can’t.”

“Of course we can! They hurt you, Cassie. They scarred the heir of an Ancient and Noble House. That’s a big fucking deal.” 

“We can’t, Sirius.”

“ _ Why not _ ?”

Cassiopeia took a short step back to stare at him. “They don’t remember us anymore. I went back and Obliviated them.”

“ _ What _ ?”

“Don’t yell at me,” she told him, stepping back a little more. “It’s war, Sirius. They’re terrible people, but they never should’ve had Harry and I. I Obliviated them and sent them to Australia and Canada.”

“Two places?”

She shrugged lightly. “Petunia was unpleasant but… sometimes she could get them to stop. She went to Canada while Vernon and… while they went to Australia with no money."

“You could’ve been hurt,” he told her, gently this time. “Don’t ever do something like that again.”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” she shook her head tiredly. “They don’t remember magic at all, Sirius, or anyone associated with it. Petunia doesn’t even remember her own sister. I just… I didn’t want to risk anything.”

“I’m glad you’re not hurt,” he told her gently. “I’m sorry you had to- I’m sorry you went through this shit. This is exactly what Reg and I wanted to protect you from all those years ago."

“I’m with you guys now,” she reminded him. “I’m okay.”

“Can I ask one more question?” he asked hesitantly. She nodded a little and he breathed out slowly. “Why’d you tell him first?”

Cassiopeia frowned. “I didn’t mean to, really. Snape was yelling at me for going back to Obliviate them and Regulus overheard. It sort of just… happened. I’m sorry.” 

“ _ I’m _ sorry,” he shook his head at her. “None of this should’ve ever happened. We should have been able to keep you safe.”

“I don’t blame you or Regulus,” she whispered. “I blame Orion for giving me away. I know… I think James and Lily would’ve been great parents, but… I don’t know. I know he thought he was doing what’s best but my life still ended up like this.”

“I don’t give a shit if he thought he was doing what’s best for you,” Sirius told her. “Regulus and I loved you more than anything in the world, Cas. We would’ve kept you safe… I would’ve.”

“I know.”

* * *

“It might be good,” Blaise suggested lightly, peppering kisses on Cassiopeia’s face and down her neck. She shivered and let out a short breath. 

“The door is open, stop it,” she laughed softly, rolling her eyes at his small pout. “I don’t care if it’s good, I’m angry that I wasn’t careful enough.”

“Cas, he’s your brother,” Blaise told her gently. “Like you said, he’s been through it, too. So has Theo and he was one of the first ones to recognize it, right?”

“He was?”

“Yep. I said something first, but he wondered before I ever did because you were so easily willing to spend a month with people you didn’t know. Told me after you guys admitted it.” 

“Merlin. I didn’t know that.” 

“He’s very protective of you, you know,” he gave her a small smile, kissing her jaw softly. “That’s why I trust him to take care of you when I’m not around.”

“ _ That’s _ why you keep telling me to go hang out with him?” she asked, laughing in surprise. “Blaise, I’m safe in my own home, you know.” 

“And even safer with Theo,” he replied easily, kissing down to her throat again. She let out a soft gasp and he chuckled, a sound that made her shiver lightly. “You’re so sensitive.” 

“You’re doing it on purpose,” she accused. He didn’t reply but rather sucked lightly on her throat. She closed her eyes, threading her fingers gently in his messy hair. “Fuck, Blaise, you’re going to give me a hickey.”

He hummed in response and sucked a little harder, making her smile. She leaned closer to him, scratching her nails lightly on his scalp as she played with his hair, grinning when he let out a soft moan of pleasure. Cassiopeia let out a small gasp of pain when he ran his tongue over the new bruise on her neck and he laughed as he pulled back to look at it. 

“That’s pretty dark,” he said, a satisfied grin on his face. He touched it gently and watched her wince before dragging his finger across it, eyeing her as she grit her teeth, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“You enjoyed that  _ far _ too much,” she accused. 

“Definitely.”

“I thought you don’t like to see me in pain.”

“Only when I cause it and it’s of this nature,” he corrected, kissing her cheek. She felt a smile pull at her lips. 

“I don’t think I minded it. The smug look on your face, though, I don’t like as much.”

“Ah, come on, you love it.” 

“I love you,” she whispered. He paused, his eyes on hers as he seemed to process the words. It wasn’t as if they didn’t know they loved each other, but rather that both of them seemed afraid to say it. But after she’d told him about third year and everything after that, she’d had problems  _ not _ telling him that she loved him. The words kept trying to leave her mouth at the most inopportune times, like at dinner in front of their friends and family. 

“Fuck,” he whispered, his lips crashing into hers. “Fuck, I love you, too.”

* * *

**July 21st, 1996**

**Grimmauld Place**

“Black.”

“Huh?” Cassiopeia looked up at Snape, who was frowning down at her. “When did you get here?”

“Five minutes ago,” he answered, handing her an envelope that she recognized as her Hogwarts letter.

“It’s not even August,” she muttered, opening it. A small gasp escaped her lips when a badge fell out of the envelope and she looked up at Snape. “I- what?”

“Eloquent as always, Black.”

“Why  _ me _ ? Daphne is much less distracted and-,”

“And wholly uninterested,” Snape interrupted. “Just accept it, Black. The decision has been made.”

“Thank you, sir,” she breathed, a small smile on her lips as she looked from the prefect badge to Snape. She’d been given one the year before as well, but it hadn’t lasted long when Umbridge began giving her detentions. They interfered with her duties too often and she was forced to give her badge to Daphne, who had complained a great deal about doing it at all. “But why are you giving it to me so early?”

“I’ve already given your friends’ letters to your brother,” he explained. “I believe it to be safer if you go early. There are sure to be more attacks on Diagon Alley this year, especially next month.”

“I see,” she nodded. 

“And the Dark Lord wants you.”

Cassiopeia threw her head back, unsurprised. “Tell him to fuck off.”

“I am serious,” he said, almost snapping at her. She looked at him in surprise to catch the worry in his eyes. “I have kept you off his radar for as long as possible but after you attacked Dolohov in the Wizengamot and your brother called Judgement on Bella, he’s watching your family. He wants all three of you, but especially you and Regulus. You need to be careful this year.”

“Okay,” she agreed softly. “I will.”

“Good. Occlumency?”

She frowned, unsure. She’d cancelled all of her Occlumency lessons since earlier that month, but she knew that if Voldemort was after her, there were certain things that needed to be guarded in case he did get her. 

“Okay. But I want to focus on my memories of you and anything to do with Horcruxes. Just in case.”

“I think that wise.”

* * *

**July 22nd, 1996**

**Diagon Alley**

It was a large group that went to Diagon Alley, and it included Kingsley, Moody, and Tonks. They had continued to go to Order meetings, and he’d argued Molly at each one the teenagers attended. At the last Order meeting the night before, Snape had announced to the entire Order - which now included Regulus for no other reason than he wanted to be there and they were at his house - that, unsurprisingly, the Black siblings had become high priority targets, not to be killed but instead captured. 

Which, of course, meant that Kingsley, Moody, and Tonks were following them around the Alley. Cassiopeia had split off with Blaise, Regulus, and Harry. They were followed by Tonks, who was wearing her Auror robes just in case anything happened.

“Stop it,” Cassiopeia snapped, slapping Harry’s hand away from her neck for the third time. “I’ll give  _ you _ a fucking bruise if you touch it again.”

“Should’ve just glamoured it right away,” Tonks grinned at her. “He never would’ve known.”

“I got distracted.”

“Distracted?”

“Oh my god,  _ no _ ,” she hissed, ignoring Blaise laughing at her. She turned away from them and walked over to where Regulus was looking at the potions book she was supposed to buy. 

“We used this one in my sixth year,” he told her, dropping it into her basket. It disappeared, popping out into the shelf with her other books behind the register. “Slughorn isn’t a man that likes change.”

“What’s he like?” she questioned. 

“He’s a Slytherin, through and through,” Regulus told her after a moment of consideration. “He likes to support students that he thinks will go places. He has something called the Slug Club. It was… no one particularly enjoyed it. Dinners, parties where he’d invite students and influential people in our society, mostly people he’d taught before.”

“You were in it?”

“Yes, and I expect he’ll be very interested in you as well.”

“Why?” Cassiopeia asked, making a face. He laughed a little and moved over to look at the books on magical creatures he’d missed. 

“Because you are, arguably, the most interesting one of us all. Which I’ll admit is a hard title to win. Sirius was in Azkaban for twelve years for a crime he didn’t commit before being rescued by you, his sister, before you knew you were his sister. I joined the Dark Lord and abandoned him for you and let everyone think I died and instead traveled to the future. You were raised by muggles, joined Slytherin and befriended one of the most bigoted Slytherins in your year and changed his mind. You saved Sirius, you endured a year of torture and then you came back and endured more torture, just to bring me home. He’ll be very interested in you, Cassie.”

“Maybe we  _ don’t _ describe my life like that,” she suggested, making a face at him. “Can’t we just be normal?”

“No. Our family was close to wizarding royalty long before any of us were born. Our lives are bound to be interesting. Admittedly, I don’t think any of us expected anything like this, but that’s beside the point.” 

Cassiopeia hummed and slipped her arm into his, resting her head on his arm as they walked. “I’m glad I found you. Something in my magic is… I don’t know. Happier with you here.” 

Regulus looked down at her curiously. “You remember how I made an oath to protect you?”

“Yeah?”

“It was a bit more like an unsealed bond. I did the vows, but the blood bond couldn’t have been sealed until you were at least five. It is likely that your core, your magic remembers that vow and expects me to uphold it and finish the bond.”

“Blood magic?” she questioned thoughtfully. She was aware that blood magic was illegal and typically frowned upon as most of it had been used years ago to enslave people, but she had done enough research to know that there were, of course, other uses for it. “How do we seal it?”

“We have to cut our palms and let the blood fall into the ceremonial bowl,” he explained. “Unfortunately, that’s in Black Manor.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll go and retrieve it later.” 

“You will not go alone,” he said, much more serious than before. It startled her a little, and she frowned at him. She didn’t think he was doubting her ability to protect herself, so she knew there was something else. “Those wards are very finicky, Cassiopeia. If they don’t properly recognize you as someone that’s been there before or that you’re with someone that’s been there before, they’ll kill you on the spot. I have no clue if Father ever took you to visit Grandfather, so you must go with Sirius or I. Preferably me since he is liable to start destroying precious heirlooms like a child. Promise me you will not go alone.”

Cassiopeia nodded a little, unwilling to argue him when he was so serious and concerned. “Okay. Okay, but can we go today?”

“Go where?” Tonks asked, sneaking up behind them. Regulus put his hand on her arm as she went to pull her wand and she shot him a nervous, thankful smile. 

“Black Manor,” Regulus answered. “We need to find something that is kept there.”

“Isn’t that where the crazy protective wards are?” Tonks questioned curiously, looking between the very serious looking siblings. They were a bit of an intimidating looking pair as they stood side by side, and the fact that they were her cousins almost made Tonks laugh. “Merlin, you two are scary.”

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. “You didn’t think I was scary before Regulus got here.”

“Eh, a little bit,” Tonks shrugged. “No one should have that much control over so many Slytherins.”

“Fair point,” Cassiopeia admitted.

“Yes,” Regulus answered. “Black Manor has the family wards. They’re centuries old and very dangerous.”

“We should hurry up,” Tonks told them. “Harry’s getting antsy in here. I think your boyfriend wants to hex him.”

“Mm, it takes a lot to properly annoy Blaise,” Cassiopeia muttered, looking around the corner to see Blaise staring at Harry with his eyes narrowed. “Love, I’ll stun you if you pull your wand.”

“You’re related to this twat,” Blaise told her, walking over. “How do you handle it?”

“With a lot of patience and usually by avoiding him when he starts acting like that,” she replied, pecking his cheek. 

“Let’s go, kiddos,” Tonks grinned, leading them to the counter to pay.

* * *

The Leaky Cauldron was rather empty at 3pm on that Wednesday afternoon, and the group sat in the large booth with Tonks sitting with them and Kingsley near the door while Moody was outside guarding the door for them. 

“Why’s his face say ‘dick’?” Sirius asked, trying not to laugh at his furious godson.

“Because I made the mistake of teaching my friends the spell I used on the DA sign-in sheet,” Cassiopeia sighed. 

“How do you fix it?” Sirius asked, the responsible guardian he was. The Marauder in him was  _ extremely _ proud of his sister, but considering the glare Harry was giving her, he decided to tell her later. 

She sighed and grabbed her wand, pointing it at her brother. “ _ Patet pellis _ .” The word disappeared from his forehead and he relaxed a little, though he was still glaring at Blaise, who definitely did not seem remorseful. 

“Reg, can you check with Moody that it’s okay to leave?” Sirius questioned. Regulus nodded quietly and stood up, leaving the pub to do as he asked. 

“Is that a good idea?” Cassiopeia questioned softly. 

“It’s been rather dead all day,” Sirius shrugged. “He’ll be fine.” 

When five minutes passed and he didn’t come back, she decided Sirius was definitely wrong and shot out of her seat and raced out of the building. Her heart lurched into her throat at the sight that met her. Moody was unconscious with a little bit of blood coming from his head but worse, Voldemort stood over Regulus, throwing Crucio after Crucio at him. 

“Stop!” She screamed, her magic coming to her desperate command as she raised her hand at the Dark Lord. Her magic shot him away from her brother, and she rushed forward to put up a shield in front of him as Voldemort got to his feet and trained his wand on them. “Don’t you fucking touch him.”

“After what he did to you?” he asked her. “Poor girl. Did your muggle family truly make you believe you deserve it? Is that why you’ve forgiven him?”

Cassiopeia froze. “What? How do you know about that?”

“Come with me,” he told her. She heard the door open behind her and grabbed a dagger to point it behind her to put up a shield around her and Regulus. It curved until it met the one in front of her and she focused hard to keep the power flowing just as strongly. “I can teach you so much. Regulus will be punished for what he’s done to you. I will punish Dolohov for ever touching you the way he did. You will know peace, know that you are safe from him if you join me. Dolohov and Regulus will know true regret.”

“ _ Don’t fucking touch him _ ,” she repeated, fury rising up in her at the threat to her brother. She tried to ignore the fear in her stomach over his words about Dolohov. “I will never join you. Regulus will never go back. Sirius has proven his entire life that he will never be loyal to you. Draco was never yours and neither is Narcissa. The Tonks’ would likely rather die than join you and so would Harry.  _ You do not own the Black family _ . We’re different now,  _ Tom _ . We’re better. Loyal to each other rather than the dark. You never owned us and you never will.” 

“I will get you,” he told her, his voice quiet. “I’ll punish the both of you for what you’ve done. You’re not safe, Cassiopeia Black.” 

“I will kill myself before being forced to join you,” she said honestly. “My life isn’t yours.”

“It will be.”

And then he left.

Cassiopeia breathed out harshly as she let the shield drop and pulled Regulus into her lap. He was awake and she didn’t think he’d been under for very long since the shakes were minimal and he seemed rather aware of what was happening. She touched his cheek lightly, frowning down at him. “It’s okay. He doesn’t get us, Reg.”

“He doesn’t get you,” he replied softly as their family surrounded them. 

* * *

“I don’t see how this is fucking important,” Sirius snapped at her. “Just drop it, Cas. We’ll figure it out another day.”

“Just answer the question, Sirius,” she insisted angrily. She’d been furious since they’d gotten back to Potter Manor, and as soon as Regulus had been taken care of, she’d gone up to the fifth floor where she’d begun throwing every spell, light and dark, that she could think of at the practice dummies. She’d broken three already, and it was only when she’d hit her stomach with a rather dark gouging hex on accident that Sirius, who had been watching, intervened. As he healed her up quietly, she’d questioned him about Black Manor, at which point he’d gotten rather annoyed with her. 

“I think so,” he huffed, rinsing the injury off again with his wand. She winced and he didn’t even bother to apologize. “Where the fuck did you learn that, Cas? That was  _ dark _ .”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said as he wrapped the injury up. He’d struggled to pull the dark magic out of it and after that, the dittany had done nothing, so he’d given her muggle stitches instead. 

“Merlin,” he breathed, looking over the other scars on her stomach finally. He’d been focused on healing her so far, but now that he was done, his eyes wandered to the scars of her past. “Fuck, Cas. Shit.”

She tugged her shirt down abruptly, startling him. “It’s over, Sirius. They’re not important.”

“Scars are fucking awful,” he disagreed. “I’ve got way less than I should and that’s just because Kreacher was usually sent to patch me up afterward, and we’ve got magic. You didn’t.”

“And I survived.”

“You give so little shits about what happened,” he shook his head at her, frustrated. “I don’t get it. I’m furious that our parents hurt me the way they did and I’m furious that the fucking Dursleys hurt you, too.”

“I do care,” she snapped. “But there’s no fucking point in complaining anymore. It’s over.”

“You really believe that.”

“It  _ is _ over.”

“Not if it’s still fucking you up,” he told her, gently this time. “Do you talk to anyone about it at all?”

“Snape,” she answered slowly. “He’s taken care of me and known about this since I was eleven. He’s been in my head and he’s seen a lot of it.” 

“Do you tell him how you feel about it?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “I do.”

“Does it help?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know. No. Not always.” 

“Talk to someone else,” he requested. “Doesn’t have to be me but please, kitten. I’m worried.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Thank you.”

* * *

Cassiopeia stood nervously at the edge of the wards. It looked to her like an abandoned, condemned factory. The sight made her shiver a little. She remembered what Regulus had said earlier that day - the wards would kill her if she hadn’t been there before. Sirius had been fairly certain that Orion had taken her to meet their grandfather, but he had also shrugged, so she was a little nervous.

“Okay,” she whispered to herself. She put her hand out and slowly moved it forward. She felt magic pass around it and took it as a good sign, so she continued forward and stepped past the wards. She shivered as the magic fell over her and looked at the sight in front of her. Instead of a factory, it was a huge building that she wondered why it wasn’t classified as a mansion instead of a manor. Shaking her head and thanking her father for the first time for taking her to meet her grandfather, she made her way toward the front doors. They were giant and black with intricate silver patterns on them that made her smile softly. 

The doors opened upon her reaching them, and she shook all memories of muggle horror movies out of her mind and reminded herself that she lived in a world with magic as she stepped inside. The place was made of dark, near black wood and white marble floors. There were two halls and a giant staircase in the middle and she hesitated. 

“ _ Accio _ Black ceremonial bowl and dagger,” she called. Nothing happened and she sighed. 

“Mistress Black is here!” 

Cassiopeia turned around to see an excited elf that reminded her a little bit of dobby, though this elf was dressed nicely and a little bit more well spoken. “Oh, hello. Can you help me?”

“I can,” the elf agreed with a bright smile. “I have taken care of the manor just as Lord Black told me to and you are the new heir!”

“I am,” Cassiopeia confirmed. “I need to find the ceremonial bowl and dagger.”

The elf popped away for just a moment before she returned with a large black and silver bowl with a shiny, silver dagger inside of it. “Will there be a ceremony?”

“There will,” Cassiopeia nodded. “Why don’t you come back to Potter Manor with me? I don’t want to leave you here alone.”

“I don’t know… I was ordered to look after Black Manor, Mistress.”

Cassiopeia shrugged and looked down at her watch. “I’d love for you to come but I’m in a hurry. Regulus is injured and-,”

“Master Regulus is here?” the elf asked with wide eyes. Cassiopeia nodded a little. 

“It’s a very long story. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Maria,” the elf introduced with a smile. Cassiopeia returned it, however small hers was. 

“It’s a long story, Maria. I’d love if you came to see us at Potter Manor, but I really need to get back. I have to finish and return the bond he began sixteen years ago.”

“Yes, I see the preliminary bond is weak,” Maria nodded. 

“Maria, who is your owner?”

“Master Regulus was. Master Orion claimed me when he died.”

“Regulus was hurt today,” Cassiopeia explained. “Since he’s alive and Orion is dead, is he your Master again?”

“I- I suppose so, yes.”

“Then perhaps you should help me do this so we can take care of him,” she suggested. The poor elf looked conflicted but finally nodded firmly. 

“I will do it.”

“Thank you,” she smiled. Maria touched her arm and sent them straight into Regulus’s room where he was reading quietly, sitting up in bed. 

“Regulus!” Cassiopeia scolded. “You’re supposed to be sleeping.”

“Cas- Maria?  _ Cassiopeia _ ,” he hissed, his eyes falling on the bowl in her arms. “You promised me.” 

“I’m sorry,” she told him. “Sirius told me that he thought I’d been there and I- I needed to do  _ something _ .”

“Is your shirt ripped?” he frowned. She looked down to find that she’d forgotten to change her shirt and her bandaged stomach was on view. “What happened? You are injured.”

“It’s nothing,” she waved him off, moving over to set the bowl on his bedside table. He let her sit on the edge of his bed and Maria followed her, standing on the other side of Regulus’s bed and silently casting spells with her elf magic. 

“It’s not nothing,” he disagreed. “Those are muggle stitches, Cassie. What happened?”

“I was very angry,” she told him calmly. “And taking it out on the dummies upstairs. One of my curses rebounded and hit me.”

“What sort of curse can’t be healed with magic?”

“A very dark one. Mistress could have badly damaged herself and her magic,” Maria answered him, lowering her hands from pointing at Cassiopeia. The girl looked at her. 

“Traitor.”

“Maria is my elf,” Regulus told her sharply. “What did you hit yourself with?”

“ _ Eruere tenaci _ ,” she answered quietly, wincing at the look on his face. “I’m fine. Sirius was watching me and he fixed me up. Yelled at me, too.”

“Merlin, Cas,” Regulus muttered quietly. “How did you learn a spell like that?”

She shrugged. “I have friends that know dark magic and I have had access to the Grimmauld Place library since before fourth year, Regulus. Sirius trusted me to take care of myself and I did.”

“Master Regulus needs another muscle relaxer,” Maria told Cassiopeia.

“There should be some in my bedroom,” she told the elf. “It’s just two doors down.” 

The elf nodded and popped off, leaving the siblings alone. 

“Will it make you angrier if I note that this is the first time you’ve been mad at me?” Cassiopeia asked with a small smile. Regulus narrowed his eyes a little and she laughed. “I am sorry. I feel useless. You never should have gone out there. I don’t know what Sirius was thinking.” 

“He was thinking that we were safe all morning,” Regulus answered her. “And so was I. It isn’t his fault, Cassie.”

“And fucking Voldemort,” she hissed, her eyes flashing angrily. “He’s so cocky. Acting like he didn’t fucking trick you into hurting me.”

“Cas,” Regulus said softly. She paused and looked at his deep frown. “He talked about Dolohov.”

“Oh,” she breathed. She’d hoped he hadn’t heard that, or at least not picked up on it. She had been considering telling him about Dolohov and Dudley and Crabbe and Goyle like Snape had suggested, but she didn’t want to do it while he was injured. “Right.”

“What happened?”

“He attacked me in the DOM,” she tried. At his stare, she looked away, staring at the wall instead. “Something happened when you left the second night.” 

“Cas,” he whispered her name as if he could belatedly change what he suspected had happened. She found herself unable to look at him and instead let her eyes trail along the wall, trying to pretend that he didn’t know enough about Dolohov to know what had happened. “He’s got a habit of… doing terrible things. When he can’t kill someone, he focuses on them until he does.” 

“Which is why he grabbed me in the DOM and tried to kill me during the recess,” she nodded numbly, feeling vaguely sick. 

Though he didn’t want to, Regulus suddenly understood what potions Snape had been giving Cassiopeia and what spells he’d cast on her, as well as the mood she had been in ever since her Occlumency session with Snape. He wondered quietly what his sister had been like before he’d met her. Before she’d come to the past. How much had the trauma that she’d suffered there changed her? 

“It wasn’t some new thing,” she told him, catching the look on his face. “It’s not safe. I was worthless, just a muggle raised half-blood in Slytherin. I’ve been… hurt before. I’m not suddenly terrified of the world because of Dolohov. I’ve been scared since before third year. It doesn’t matter who I am now. I can’t… knowing what I know about how seriously these cases are handled in the muggle world, I can’t report any of them and expect anything but more trauma to follow. I just have to… deal with it and move on.” 

“When you woke up,” he said softly. “You asked if it had happened again.”

She nodded a little. “I think some part of me knew what Dolohov had done. After the attack in third year, they’d almost killed me. I managed to get myself to the boys’ dorm and they got Snape. He used Occlumency because apparently, I couldn’t talk. They sent me to heal, and they tried to look at my mind and… I don’t know. I freaked out. I wouldn’t talk to anyone for four days after that. I had to go back to school when I was physically healed and they realized I’d never let them in my head. It happened again before fourth year and then in fourth year, and I just… I tried to tell someone that time but they were busy and I was being taken for the second task and… it just didn’t seem worth it, so I got the potion from Madame Pomfrey and cast the spell and moved on.” 

Regulus looked at her for a long second. “Have you and Severus-,”

“No,” she shook her head. “He saw that once. He got stuck in my head because I was in shock and I don’t ever want to make him see that again, much less three times.”

“Have you told him this?”

“Yes.”

“And what did he say?”

She frowned. She trusted Regulus and she even thought she might trust him with her mind, but it was a large thing to ask of someone, especially someone that cared for and loved her. 

“Master Regulus,” Maria said quietly as she walked into the room. Cassiopeia guessed that she’d heard everything but didn’t mind, grateful for her interruption. Regulus took the potion from the elf and drank it down, and Cassiopeia was grateful to see his body stop shaking almost completely. “Will you be needing a binder?”

“Yes, Maria. Please bring Sirius,” Regulus told her. The elf nodded and popped out, and Cassiopeia sighed. 

“Please don’t tell him,” she requested softly. “I don’t think you would, I just… he’s still dealing with the Dursleys. I think he’s mad at me.”

“Why?” Regulus frowned. She bit her lip. 

“He asked me the worst parts and I told him just a little bit. When we found out I wasn’t on the wills, he suggested I just ignore that I legally couldn’t go to him and I told him I couldn’t do that. I think he feels like… I don’t know. I went back there willingly. I just didn’t want him to be arrested again.”

“I can see why he’d be upset, but you’re right. Him being arrested would have only left you there in danger for longer. Even if you weren’t a Black, he’d have gotten custody of you eventually.”

She just shrugged in response.

“-fuck did you come from? I thought you’re fuckin dead!” Sirius was yelling as he approached the room. Cassiopeia laughed when she saw Maria pulling him down the hall by his ear. When she got him in the room, she shut the door behind them and released him. “Bloody demented elf!” 

“Sirius, I’d appreciate it if you refrained from verbally abusing my elves,” Regulus sighed. He’d been told about Kreacher, of course. They’d sent the elf long ago to recover in a hospital for mentally ill elves, and it was likely he’d spend the rest of his life there.

“Cassiopeia,” Sirius said, his voice low as he stared at the bowl. “You’d better fucking tell me you didn’t go to Black Manor  _ alone _ .”

She just shrugged. 

“You almost fucking killed yourself earlier so you thought you’d risk it and go test the most dangerous  _ fucking wards in the world _ ?” he snapped at her, his eyes flashing angrily.

“No,” she snapped back, her temper rising to match his. “I wanted to do something for Regulus other than avoid him like  _ you _ decided to. I have an ounce of emotional maturity, so I went to get the fucking bowl so we can finish the bond and make sure it goes both ways!” 

“Hold on,” Regulus interrupted. “Cassiopeia, we’re not doing that.”

“Like hell we’re not,” she snapped, this time at him, surprising him. “We’ve just seen how much danger you’re in, Regulus.”

“Wait,” Sirius said thoughtfully. “I’ve got an idea. We can make a sibling bond and bind all of us. It’s been done before.” 

“This was  _ not _ what I intended,” Regulus told them both. “I vowed to protect Cassiopeia. That’s it. You can handle yourself, Sirius, you always have.”

“And so can I,” Cassiopeia told him. “I grew up not knowing either of you and I survived just fine. We were all on our own, but now we don’t have to be, Regulus. You two can be close again and I can have a family I actually care for and feel safe with, aside from Harry.”

“Safe?” Regulus asked her quietly. The question made her pause, but she nodded firmly. 

“Neither of you would ever intentionally hurt me and I’ve never doubted that. I knew even before I met you, Sirius, that you weren’t the man everyone said you were. I trusted you when I  _ did _ meet you. If I’d been injured in front of any other stranger that was hanging out in the Forbidden Forest, I’d probably stun them right away.”

“Sure, but you gotta remember your cat,” Sirius joked with a grin. She rolled her eyes. 

“Icarus likes you better than me. He’s basically your cat.”

“Fine,” Regulus agreed. “We can do the sibling bonds, but I still intend to seal our bond, Cassiopeia. It will likely add strength and one or two different perks than the sibling bond."

“Great!” Sirius grinned. “Better get someone else, though. Not Remus, he doesn’t know how to do it.”

“Narcissa,” Cassiopeia suggested. Sirius grinned and sent of a Patronus, informing her she’d need her wand and requesting she join them. She made her way into the room a moment later to find them sitting quietly together, Cassiopeia and Regulus both still frustrated while Sirius was just excited.

“Cissa,” Sirius grinned. “We’re going to be doing a couple of bindings if you wouldn’t mind sealing them?”

“Of course,” Narcissa nodded. Her eyes fell on the bowl and she raised an eyebrow. “I was not aware you returned to Black Manor.”

“Ah,” Cassiopeia smiled sheepishly when both of her brothers looked at her. “That was me. They’re not too pleased about that.”

“Oh my,” Narcissa gasped, waving her wand quietly. A shirt flew into her hand and she passed it over to the younger girl. “Go change, dear.”

“Thanks,” Cassiopeia smiled, having forgotten once more about the hole in her shirt. When she left to Regulus’s bathroom, Narcissa looked at the brothers.

“What happened to her now?”

“She was hexing things left and right and hit a dummy with a rebound shield,” Sirius explained. “She was pretty pissed off, too. I think that’s why she went to Black Manor.”

“She is reckless,” Narcissa told him. “Be careful, both of you. She is our responsibility, but you two will lose more than anyone else if something happens to her.”

“I’m not that breakable,” Cassiopeia scowled as she left the bathroom. 

“You seem to take after Sirius,” was Narcissa’s only response, which Cassiopeia knew was her way of calling her reckless once more. 

“All of us first,” Sirius said to break the tense moment. “Theirs may take more energy since it has been so long since Reg made the vows. He might wanna make them again.”

“I would suggest it,” Narcissa agreed, plucking the dagger from the bowl. She silently cast a spell on the bowl and it lit up, golden magic hovering over the silver of the bowl. Cassiopeia and Sirius made their way over to the table she levitated it to, and Regulus followed them, the pain potion and muscle relaxer having worked wonders on him. “Which bond?” 

“Hmm,” Sirius looked to Regulus. “ _ Fratrem in perpetuum vinculum _ ?”

“That takes a bit more blood than usual,” Narcissa reminded him. 

“We’ll be fine,” Regulus assured her, aware she wasn’t worried for Sirius but rather the younger two. “Ours shouldn’t be too bad.”

“Which one did you make?”

He hesitated. “I don’t think it’s important at the moment.”

“It bloody well is,” Sirius disagreed. “Tell her.”

“ _ Fidem _ .”

“Oh,” Narcissa breathed in surprise. “Oh, my.”

“I don’t understand,” Cassiopeia looked between them. “What is it?”

“Fealty, dear,” Narcissa told her gently. “He swore fealty to you but did not seal it.”

“That is why I do not want you to return it,” Regulus explained at her incredulous look. 

“I thought fealty wasn’t bound by blood,” she questioned curiously. 

“Typically, it isn’t,” Sirius agreed. “But when it is, it’s more serious. If you break your vow of fealty without the blood, you risk losing your magic. Magic itself actually judges your actions, like when I called Judgement. Thing is, you’re usually left with just enough magic to keep you alive.” 

“With the blood, however,” Narcissa continued. “You lose your magic and sustain the same injuries the person you swore fealty to would sustain. Breaking a blood bound fealty typically results in death. It is not often done anymore. Neither of them are, actually. Regulus swearing blood fealty simply puts more at stake - proves how serious he is to you and anyone else watching. He likely did it because of the Dark Lord.” 

“I did,” he confirmed. “I assumed the Dark Lord would not risk forcing me to break it. Obviously, I was wrong.”

“I’m pretty sure the only reason it didn’t kill him is because the bond was so weak after so many years and being unsealed,” Sirius added. “If he did that after you seal it or even now after being around each other, he’d die."

“Oh,” Cassiopeia breathed. “Well, I still want to do it.”

“You don’t understand what it means-,”

“Yes, I do. I was listening. I’m not stupid, Regulus. I know this is a big deal. I understand that and I still want to do it. Either we both do it, or I won’t help you seal it.” 

“Shit, she’s got you there, Reg,” Sirius laughed, earning himself a glare. “Oh, come on. It’s a little funny.” 

“Fine,” Regulus said, unhappy. 

“Let’s begin,” Narcissa smiled. “Please stand in a circle around the bowl.” When they adjusted to do just that, she began. “ _ Fratrem in perpetuum vinculum _ … Sirius.”

Sirius nodded and took the dagger from her, slicing his forearm open instead of his palm. It wasn’t deep, but it was enough that it bled a decent amount. Narcissa used her wand to ensure all of the blood made its way into the bowl. “I, Sirius Orion Black, do vow to care for and protect Regulus Arcturus Black and Cassiopeia Narcissa Black.”

The blood in the bowl lit up a bright gold before it stopped and he pulled his arm back to heal it quickly. Narcissa nodded at Regulus next and, after cleaning the blade, he cut his arm the same way Sirius had. “I, Regulus Arcturus Black, do vow to care for and protect Sirius Orion Black and Cassiopeia Narcissa Black.”

The blade was handed to Cassiopeia next after Regulus cleaned it for her and she didn’t hesitate to slice her arm open. The blood dripped down into the bowl easily, and she stood straight, digging her finger into her palm to distract her from the pain. “I, Cassiopeia Narcissa Black, do vow to care for and protect Sirius Orion Black and Regulus Arcturus Black.” 

When the bowl lit up again, this time brighter with all of their blood mixed together, she quietly healed her arm as Narcissa whispered over the blood. Just as she’d finished stitching her skin back together, she let out a surprised gasp as a black band burned into her forearm directly over the mark from the unsealed fealty vow. 

“You are now bonded siblings,” Narcissa told them, vanishing the blood from the bowl. “It is a rather powerful bond, as well. I imagine you will be able to draw from one another’s magic if needed.” 

“Really?” Cassiopeia questioned, looking curiously at the band on her arm. It didn’t hurt anymore and looked rather like a muggle tattoo just as it had before. It was less than an inch thick, but it wrapped all the way around her arm. When she looked at her brothers, she saw the same on them. She was surprised to feel magic vibrating through it when she pulled her thumb over the mark, the magic from the bond tickling her natural magic. 

“This ritual used to be used for families that were targets for attacks,” Regulus told her as she inspected it. “As well as royalty. Whenever there were to be multiple people like siblings ruling, they would cast this so that it would be much more difficult to kill one or all of them.”

“Why is that?”

“Because if your magical core runs dry, it uses ours to keep you alive,” Sirius explained, grinning as he poked his own mark. “More than that, I’d imagine we all probably got a good power boost there.”

“Regulus, Cassiopeia,” Narcissa looked between them. “Are you certain you want to do this now?”

“I’m fine,” Cassiopeia said honestly. She didn’t feel any weaker. In fact, the new bond had her feeling rather energetic. 

“As am I.”

“Sirius, if you’ll step out of the room,” Narcissa requested, nodding at her eldest cousin. “Magic is fickle and may not appreciate you being here.”

“Yep, I’m outta here,” he said, waving as he left. At Cassiopeia’s confused look, Narcissa offered her a smile. 

“We’ll be calling on magic itself to bond you both. It will essentially mix with your blood. It may be a little uncomfortable, and it is possible you will get another mark like that,” she explained, touching the band on her arm gently. “This is a very sacred ceremony typically, and usually done with as few people present as possible. Sirius being there could be dangerous for him as well as us.” 

“Are you ready, Narcissa?” Regulus asked softly. She nodded and waved him forward, and after she muttered the required words, he cut his palm, letting it drip into the bowl. The dagger was handed to Cassiopeia, and she did the same, curious as something inside of her was brought to life. It felt very similar to the feeling she’d felt before first year when Theo’s father had been telling her about the Black family. “I, Regulus Arcturus Black, do swear my magic, my wand, and my life to my sister, Cassiopeia Narcissa Black. I wish to know when she is in danger, have the power to protect her, and always be able to ensure her safety and happiness. I wish to live as long as she does so that I may never leave her to the cruelty of the world.” 

The bowl lit up and Cassiopeia gasped at the tug inside of her core as magic accepted his vows. A new band lit up on Regulus’s left-hand middle finger, and she was so focused that she hadn’t even noticed him reach for her still bleeding hand to heal it. She couldn’t help but look at him in wonder. 

“Why?” was all she could ask. He seemed to understand her, though. 

“You are precious to me,” he told her simply. “I lived for nineteen years before you were born, and they were without hope and doomed to live the life our parents wanted for me. Then you were born, and you were so  _ light _ and without the weight of the world. My Solis. I knew that there was a reason for my life aside from doing what I was told to do. I wanted to do everything I could to keep you as light and happy as possible. While I may have failed, I still want to protect you to the best of my ability because you gave me hope for the first time in my life.” 

“Oh,” she breathed. She wasn’t sure she could put her feelings into actual words. She was overwhelmed but grateful. She thought once more about how happy she was to have managed to bring him to the future before her thoughts were interrupted. 

“Cassiopeia, do you still wish to do the binding?” Narcissa asked her. She nodded quickly. 

“Are the vows the same each time?” 

“Those are the typical vows for the most part, but you can add whatever you wish,” her godmother explained. She nodded a little, biting her lip. 

“Okay. I think I’ve got it.” 

“ _ Fidem _ ,” Narcissa whispered. Cassiopeia sliced her other palm open and let it fall into the bowl, watching as Regulus did the same. With that done, she took in a breath and began her vows. 

“I, Cassiopeia Narcissa Black, do swear my magic, my wand, and my life to my brother, Regulus Arcturus Black. I wish to know when he is in danger, have the power to protect him, and always be able to ensure his safety and happiness. I wish to live as long as he does so that I may never leave him to the cruelty of the world. I wish to ensure that he never returns to Voldemort or the life of darkness he knew before. I wish that I can help ensure that when he dies, it will be happy and with few regrets for the life he’s lived.”

The blood lit up and she felt her ring finger burn slightly and smiled at the success as magic accepted her vows as well. She absently healed her hand and watched Narcissa clear the bowl again, this time cleaning it with a small jet of water, which she then vanished. 

“Maria,” Regulus called softly. The elf popped in and Narcissa handed her the bowl and dagger with a kind smile. “Please return these to Black Manor for us.”

Maria looked at Cassiopeia. “Lord Black had a file for you in his safe-,”

“I know,” Cassiopeia nodded. “Sirius found it a few years ago.”

“So you have read it?”

She hesitated. “Not exactly.”

“Lord Black wanted you to read it as soon as you knew,” the small elf explained. “It was very important to him.”

“It’s not important to me,” Cassiopeia replied, wincing at her sharp tone. “I’m sorry. I just am not interested in anything to do with him right now.”

“You’re dismissed,” Regulus told Maria gently. The elf nodded and popped off, and he looked at his sister in concern. Narcissa had left the room already, aware she’d been about to intrude on a conversation. “Why don’t you want to read it?”

“I don’t want anything to do with him,” she admitted. “He just- there had to be another choice, a better one. I wouldn’t give Harry up for anything but the shit I’ve gone through with the Dursleys… it’s his fault, Regulus.”

“He didn’t know you’d be given to them,” he reminded her carefully.

“I don’t  _ care _ . He should’ve worked harder to protect me some other way. He shouldn’t have been so quickly willing to give me up, Reg.”

“Maybe he wrote something that will help you understand better. You won’t know until you read it, Cassie. You won’t know anything. Maybe it was the only choice.” 

“It can’t have been,” she said quietly. “There had to be something else.” 

“You just won’t know until you look at it.”

“I’m okay with not knowing for now,” she admitted. “I want to focus on you and my friends and making sure everyone is safe. I promise I’ll read through it eventually. Just… not now.”

* * *


	21. Slytherin's Locket

**August 2nd, 1996**

**Grimmauld Place**

“Nice tattoos, Cassie,” Bill commented with a grin. She rolled her eyes and sat down next to him. The room was mostly empty, and she’d gotten in there early to search for the locket, which they still hadn’t found. She had one other idea for where it’d gone, and it made her angry every time she thought about it. 

“Is Dung going to be here?” she asked, absently covering the bond mark on her middle finger. She’d forgotten to do so before going over to the dark house and while she trusted Bill, she didn’t trust everyone else. Once that mark was covered, she quickly covered the one on her arm as well. 

“You look a little evil,” he noted. “Yeah, he is. Most of the Order will be. Charlie’s officially moving back for a couple of years at least, so he’ll be here, too.”

“And the twins?”

“In attendance,” he confirmed. “Somewhere here, I think. Mum told them to clean.”

Cassiopeia blinked at him. “Does she- does she know we have an elf to take care of Grimmauld Place? She’d be hard pressed to find something that  _ does _ need cleaning.”

“You know my mum,” he waved her off. “I think she’s hoping to keep them busy enough that they’ll miss the meeting.”

Cassiopeia looked back to the cupboard she’d been in before, her lips thinning. “Is Dung here right now?”

“He’s in the library if I remember correctly,” Bill told her hesitantly. “Cassiopeia, you’re not going to murder him are you?”

She scoffed. “No, probably not.”

“ _ Probably _ .”

She got up and took the kitchen stairs to the third floor where the library was located, ignoring Bill chasing after her. When she got there, she caught sight of Dung eyeing a locked case of books and whipped her wand out, casting the spell that she knew would key the library wards to her signature. With that done, she focused all of the ward power in the library to that case, the strength of it making the wards somewhat visible. “Get away from there, Dung. We’ve got some talking to do.”

“O- oh!” he gasped, taking a step back. She stalked over to him, her wand still out. 

“Normally, I would give very few shits about you stealing from Grimmauld Place,” she told him slowly. “But you stole something very fucking precious to us, not to mention this war. I know it was you. Kreacher’s cupboard is empty now when it had all of his possessions before, and we sure as hell didn’t clean that out. Where is it, Dung?”

“I didn’t take nothing,” he denied. When the wards tensed around him, he squirmed. “What’re you lookin’ for?”

“A locket,” she told him, not relaxing the wards at all. “The locket of Slytherin.”

“If it appeared in here by the end of the night-,”

“You will hand it directly to me and I’ll ignore the fact that you just tried to steal from our library as well,” she suggested. He nodded quickly, and she released the wards, turning on her heel to walk past Bill and out of the library, back down to the kitchen where her brothers were talking quietly. 

“Holy shit, Cassie, that was  _ scary _ ,” Bill told her with a startled laugh. She shrugged lightly. 

“As a Black, I have equal control over the wards here. If they were just a little bit suffocating, he’d know I was serious. It’s not my fault he squirms at any magic touching him at all.”

“Ah, come on, Cas,” Sirius sighed. “What did you do?”

“Mundungus stole the locket of Slytherin,” she informed him. “I was just giving him good reason to return it. Also, we need to stop letting him free in here. He’s taken so much of our shit.” 

“Yeah, but it’s not like I want it,” Sirius reasoned. “Are you telling me you bullied Dung into admitting he stole from us?”

“I convinced him to return something he’d taken without our knowledge.”

“That’s a yes,” Bill told them. “She’s bloody scary.” 

“She’s acting like much more of a Slytherin than when we met,” Regulus said with a laugh. She rolled her eyes and made her way over to the table, where her brothers sat on either side of her and Bill across from them. 

“You three are terrifying,” Bill told them with a grin. 

“We’ve heard,” Regulus replied.

“Tonks told Reg and I that we’re intimidating,” Cassiopeia explained. 

“You  _ are _ ,” Tonks said as she walked into the room. “But Sirius is just a big old dog, so he doesn’t count.”

“This dog can still bite,” the man warned. 

“Isn’t there some old magical rule that you can’t hurt your godkids?” Tonks replied with a grin, her hair turning blue. Sirius made a face at her, and she laughed, taking a seat next to Bill. Remus trailed in a moment later and sat next to her, making her hair turn pink again.

The rest of the Order made their way in quickly after that, including Dung, who walked past Cassiopeia and slipped the locket into her open hand. She grabbed it tightly within her own and glanced down at it only once before looking back up to see Dumbledore come in last. 

“Ah, good, everyone is here,” he said with a smile. “I’d like to welcome our new Minister for Magic, Amelia Bones.” There was a smattering of applause for the woman, regardless of the fact that she’d been in the group since it had been reformed except for that first meeting when she’d been busy. “Severus, to you first. Do you have any news?"

“Voldemort is moving on Diagon Alley three times this month, though I’m unsure when. He has discussed attacking Hogsmeade during the first Hogsmeade weekend as well. Two students have received the Mark over the last week-,”

“Which students?” Dumbledore interrupted. 

“Perhaps we can discuss that later,” he ground out, irritated. 

“It is important that we all know, Severus,” Dumbledore disagreed sternly. Snape’s eyes slid over Cassiopeia for only a moment before he spoke again. 

“Crabbe and Goyle.”

While Dumbledore acknowledged Snape, Cassiopeia felt her breath leave her. She paled, though she had no clue why she was reacting so strongly. She’d assumed they’d receive the Mark, especially soon, but hearing it had made her sick for a reason she didn’t understand. She hadn’t even reacted so strongly or clearly when seeing them in person. 

“Anything else, Severus?”

“No.”

“I believe you mentioned something else was-,”

“ _ No _ .”

“Severus,” Dumbledore frowned at the man. “You cannot keep things from us. This is for the Greater Good, my boy.” 

The look on Snape’s face told Dumbledore exactly what he should do with his Greater Good. 

“Dolohov has been assigned to try and capture the Black siblings.”

Cassiopeia wasn’t sure when it had happened, but she’d stood and found herself rushing from the room until she reached the sitting room three floors up and felt hot tears begin to stream down her face. Her breathing was ragged and her shoulders shook as she leaned over, feeling her pain just a little too much. 

“Cassie,” Regulus said, waving his wand at the door to lock it and add privacy wards. “Cas.”

She moved into his arms and let out a sob, the shaking only worsening. She wasn’t sure why she was so upset by the news, but she was, and it pained her so deeply that she found herself falling into a pit of fear and despair. 

“Shit,” Regulus cursed, looking down at her hand, which had gripped the locket so tightly within it that her nails had dug in and made her bleed. He grabbed her hand and she let him, ignoring him as he tried to pry her fingers off of the locket. It was difficult to do without hurting her. Since she was already hurting herself, he tried harder and when he finally got it out of her hand, he threw it across the room. He pulled her into his arms, where she stayed and cried until her breathing slowed and her shoulders no longer shook. When she’d calmed down, he pulled back and grabbed her hand to heal it wandlessly. 

“Why?” she whispered, her voice hoarse from the crying. “Why?” 

“He wants to hurt you,” he answered her honestly. “I need you to be prepared that he likely knows about Crabbe and Goyle, as well. They may try something again.”

“I’m so tired,” she whispered, wiping quietly at the tears on her cheeks. “I don’t know why that… it just scared me so badly.” 

“It was the locket,” he told her. “It heightened your negative emotions. They can do that. You were holding it so tightly that you bled, Cas.” 

Her mouth dropped open in surprise as she looked at her newly healed hand. “I… didn’t even notice.”

“I would love to suggest we destroy this tonight or tomorrow, but I think it would be wise if we held off. If so much of his soul is destroyed, he will feel it and he’ll move the remaining ones.” 

“It’s okay,” she shook her head. “We can just put it somewhere safe and far away from us. Maybe Black Manor since the wards are apparently so serious.” 

“Maria!” 

“Master Regulus?” 

“Please put this somewhere safe,” he said, removing his sweater and levitating the locket into it. “Somewhere away from all living creatures, please. It is a very dark object, Maria. Be very careful. Do not touch it with your skin.” 

She nodded once and popped back out, leaving them alone. As soon as she did, Cassiopeia felt her shoulders drop and a significant amount of her panic dissolve. 

“Oh.” 

“Better?” 

“Much,” she agreed. There was a knock at the door and while Regulus was content to ignore it, she got to her feet and, after he removed the privacy ward, opened it, blinking in surprise. “Professor.” 

“I apologize,” he told her slowly, entering the room. “I had hoped you would not join the meeting and I could tell you alone. You reacted very strongly. Everyone is very worried.”

“It was a Horcrux,” she explained. “Regulus sent it to Black Manor, but I was holding it when you told us… is the meeting over?” 

“I am not needed for the rest of it,” he shook his head. “It is only more information I would need to hide.” 

“I’ll leave you two,” Regulus offered. Cassiopeia smiled gratefully and watched him walk out quietly. 

“Professor,” Cassiopeia said quietly. “Am I going to be… do you think I’m going to live through this war?”

No empty words of assurance left his mouth. She stared back at him as he considered her question, and when he took in a breath, she prepared herself for his honest answer. 

“There is a chance you will not.” 

“Thank you for being honest, sir.” 

“But that does not mean that you have any excuse to be reckless,” he continued. “If you continue how you have been for the past five years, you will certainly die. You  _ must _ begin valuing your life, Black. Stop being such a Gryffindor and protect yourself, even if it means killing someone else.” 

“I’ve killed before.” 

“For yourself?” Her silence was all the answer he needed. “Protect yourself, Black, and your chances of living increase greatly.” 

“Sir,” she said before he could leave. “Please just… if it ever gets too dangerous, please leave. The war doesn’t depend on you staying with Voldemort.” 

“We will see.” 

“I think that’s bullshit. You owe Dumbledore nothing. Why would you risk yourself like this? You could die!” 

“I do  _ nothing _ for that old fool,” he told her sharply. “Do not pretend to understand issues you know nothing about, Miss Black.”

“I still think it’s fucking stupid.”

“Noted.”

* * *

**August 20th, 1996**

**Potter Manor**

Sirius had hoped to hold a full Alliance dinner since many people had recently joined it but it was nearly two months before all of their schedules lined up. He’d invited the full Alliance and all heirs. It held the Greengrasses, Longbottoms, Zabinis, Bones’, Abbotts, Vances and many more. Only some of the family was there, Draco having chosen to go with Theo to pick up some more clothes from the American version of Diagon Alley. It had been a large argument that had resulted in getting a worldwide portkey so they could do their shopping. 

The three siblings sat at the end of the table, Sirius in the middle. Regulus was to his right and Cassiopeia to his left. Harry sat on her other side next to Daphne, who sat next to her father. Astoria was on his other side, too, since he insisted the sisters run the family together. 

“Thank you all for coming,” Sirius said to them all. “Politics will be discussed after dinner - for now, enjoy your meal and the good company.”

The elves popped the food in, and everyone began eating. Sirius was, however, mistaken if he thought that politics could wait until later. Everyone was very curious, given the new dynamic of the family with all three siblings back and clearly ready to fight the war. Many of them had already guessed that the three of them would be leading the family together if the way they sat was any indication. It was only when Cassiopeia removed her sweater that anyone became certain of that fact. 

“Is that a bond mark?” 

All three siblings looked to Emmaline Vance, who was looking at Cassiopeia curiously. 

“It is,” Cassiopeia confirmed easily, unwilling to hesitate while everyone stared at her. 

“May I ask who you’ve bonded with?” Amelia wondered. Cassiopeia looked to her brothers, who only nodded at her. 

“My brothers and I have performed a  _ fratrem in perpetuum vinculum  _ bond.” 

“So it’s true, then?” Elora asked. “All three of you will run your House?” 

Sirius spoke before they could. “Yes, it is. Cassiopeia is my heir, but this House needs all of us to restore it. The bond was a logical decision - the Dark Lord wants all of us, and if he does capture any of us, there is much less of a chance he will kill us.” 

“Damn, that’s powerful,” Elora said. “Who sealed it?”

“Narcissa,” Regulus nodded at their cousin. 

“That’s even more powerful,” Harris Abbott noted. “That is a pure Black bond.” 

“Wait, so if that’s your sibling bond,” Astoria said, leaning over her father and sister both to grab Cassiopeia’s hand, despite the stares she received for being so casual with the Black heir. “Then what’s  _ that _ ?”

“Oh my,” Augusta gasped. Cassiopeia spared a glance at Regulus. She’d been glamouring the bond mark on her finger, but apparently, she’d forgotten to replace it before dinner with how rushed they were while getting ready. “That is a very old blood bond, dear. Who on earth would you vow to?”

“Vow what?” Neville questioned, looking at the typically innocuous band on her finger. “What is it?”

“It is a fealty bond,” Augusta explained. “A blood bound fealty bond.”

“We would appreciate if you all kept this quiet,” Cassiopeia told them. “I did not mean to leave it uncovered.” 

“But who would you vow to?” Amelia frowned at her. “Harry?”

“No,” Harry shook his head quickly. “I don’t want her fealty.” 

“It does not matter who,” she interrupted before they could continue to guess. She tugged her hand away from her friend with a small smack to her arm for asking in front of everyone. “It’s been done. As I said, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to anyone.” 

“If all three of you are running your House,” Emmaline Vance said, changing the subject for her. “Have you agreed on your politics?”

“They’re generally the same,” Sirius answered for her. “As a group, we have not discussed them, but I’ve spoken to Cassie and Reg separately and know that they match up with my own fairly well. There will be no fighting between us.”

“But you are Lord Black,” Elora said. “How will it work for all of you to control the family together? Or will you be in charge of that?”

“There are, admittedly, a few things we still need to work out,” Sirius told the woman, who was giving him a rather flirty smile, much to Blaise and Cassiopeia’s horror. “But for most issues, all three of us can make decisions, separately or together, for the good of our family. I trust them both, and I know we will do good things for this House and, hopefully, the wizarding world as long as we work together."

“And now that Harry is Lord Potter, will you be working with him as well? Are you looking to lead the Potter Alliance with him now?” Augusta questioned. 

“I was pretty okay with Cassie leading our family,” Harry admitted, taking a moment to put his thoughts together. His sister had spent three hours earlier that day trying to prep him for the dinner and he felt rather confident after it. “But we talked about it. She  _ can _ since she was adopted, but she’s got a lot on her plate. I think it’s important I understand the intricacies of our world and help change things for the better, so I want to help out as soon as I understand everything a little better.”

“I do suggest you bring your heirs to our discussions,” Sirius told the Alliance after a moment. “With the reformed alliance, they will someday be a part of it, and it is important that they know how to handle the Wizengamot and their House.”

“Cassiopeia was raised by muggles,” Elora said, earning a glare from her son. 

“Mum, don’t,” he told her sharply. She ignored him. 

“Does she really know how to handle your House?”

“With all due respect, Lady Zabini,” Cassiopeia said with a polite smile. “I have been a part of this world for years now. My friends, your son included, taught me a lot about the pureblood world, even before I knew I was a Black. Lord Greengrass has been helping me handle this world since I was eleven in the name of this Alliance. Now with the guidance of my brothers, I am confident in my ability to help guide this family and our world to a better place.”

“Good answer,” Daniel told her with a smile, which she returned. She hadn’t seen him too much recently, save for Alliance meetings and the Wizengamot. Her friends had told her he was struggling with the loss of his wife, and she wished there was some way they could help. She made a mental note to ask Sirius if he could think of something they could do for Daniel.

From there, the conversation moved back and forth from politics to polite chatter. When the meal was over, the adults as well as Cassiopeia, Harry, Blaise, Daphne, Astoria, Susan, Neville, and Hannah all moved to a room off the library that Sirius told her had been for alliance meetings when Charlus and Dorea were alive. The elves had fixed it up and added extra chairs for all of the heirs to sit next to their Heads. It was a very impressive room to sit in, and the seating was somewhat similar to dinner with Sirius at the head of the table and Cassiopeia and Regulus on either side of him. 

The meeting went well and they’d agreed on a few different plans to try to handle the Death Eaters infiltrating the ministry. A few new, smaller families had joined the Alliance as well, and they were glad for it. The bigger the alliance was, the more power they had to help restrict Voldemort’s movements.

“And the war effort,” Augusta said. “I know you’re a part of Dumbledore’s Order. Is there anything we need to know?” 

Sirius considered the question. “Does anyone know what Horcruxes are?” 

“Ah, shit,” Elora cursed. Only Amelia and Emmaline knew what they were aside from her, so Sirius set into explaining. When he finished, they were all horrified. 

“And you’re saying You-Know-Who has one?” Harris asked him. Sirius shook his head. 

“Voldemort has many. We’ve destroyed three so far and are in possession of another. I believe we know where another is. One is, I believe, his snake familiar, Nagini. The last one… we are unsure.”

“You  _ have _ one?” Emmaline stared. “Those are dangerous. Too close to one, and you can have dangerous mood swings and change you.”

“Believe me, we figured that out the hard way,” Cassiopeia scowled. “It isn’t here or anywhere we’re staying. It was put somewhere safe.”

“What items did he make Horcruxes?” Amelia questioned. 

“Ravenclaw’s Diadem, Slytherin’s locket, Tom Riddle’s diary-,”

“Who is Tom Riddle?” Harris interrupted. 

“Voldemort,” Cassiopeia answered when Sirius hesitated. 

“ _ What _ ?”

She nodded. “He was born to a witch named Merope Gaunt who had given a muggle love potion to make him marry her. She stopped and he left her, so she went to an orphanage and gave birth there, where she died of complications. He was raised there, cruel, and then Dumbledore picked him up and took him to Hogwarts. He killed Moaning Myrtle at sixteen and made a Horcrux from her.”

“Are you telling me that the Dark Lord is a half blood?” Elora stared. At Cassiopeia’s nod, she let out a laugh. “Hypocrite.” 

“Yeah, so he made his diary a-  _ oh my god _ ,” Cassiopeia gasped. 

“What?” Sirius asked, startled. “Kitten?”

“I think I know where we might find another one,” she told him. “We can talk about it later. We might need Snape’s help.” 

“Snape? The Death Eater?” Elora questioned. 

“Snape has taken care of me since my first class with him,” she told them. 

“Probably remind him of Lily,” Emmaline told her. “You definitely remind me of Lily.” 

Not sure how to reply, she just nodded. The words made her extremely uncomfortable - she wasn’t Lily’s daughter, not really. She knew that no one saw her that way anymore, at least, and she was surprised to find how upset that made her. After actually meeting the woman, she had wished she could’ve been raised by her. “He’s been very kind to me and has helped me with Occlumency. He is trustworthy and not loyal to Voldemort.” 

“How could you, of all people, not worry that Snape is digging around in your sister’s head?” Emmaline asked Sirius. Having gone to school together and been friends because of Lily and Marlene, she knew just how bad Sirius and Snape had hated one another. “You were furious when he called Lily that word and you’ll just let him touch your sister?”

“As much as this pains me to say,” Sirius made a face. “I trust him. For whatever reason, he does care greatly for Cassie. She trusts him. When she was in danger a couple of years ago, she called him and he came and helped her. I think he might even abandon Voldemort for her.” 

“Why?” Harris questioned curiously.

“He was my first magical guardian,” Cassiopeia explained. “He grudgingly cares for me. I think if I yelled at him enough, he might even admit he loves me.” 

“Yell at him?” Amelia raised an eyebrow.

“He’s a stubborn man,” she made a face. “He doesn’t like to admit he occasionally has human emotions.” 

“For the record,” Harry spoke up. “I’m still not sure he does.”

* * *

**August 27th, 1996**

**Potter Manor**

“He’s  _ dying _ ?” 

“Yes.”

“Ah, come on,” Sirius groaned. “That old geezer can’t make it through this war?” 

“It was a foolish mistake,” Snape told them, ignoring Sirius’s complaints. “Just as you did, he realized that it was likely the Dark Lord used his family to make a Horcrux. The Gaunt ring held a stone in it that he believes to be the Resurrection Stone. There was a compulsion charm on the ring, and he touched it before checking for any dark magic. He will be dead within a year.”

“Has he destroyed it yet?” Cassiopeia questioned. 

“No, not yet,” Snape told her. “With the basilisk gone, he is struggling to find safe means to destroy it.”

“Oh, good,” she breathed. “Can you get it from him? We don’t want to destroy anymore.”

“There’s a chance the Dark Lord would feel it if any more of his soul is destroyed,” Regulus explained to his old friend. “We hope to round them up and destroy them at the same time when we are ready to kill him.” 

“I can retrieve it,” Snape confirmed. “You have somewhere to put it? It is not safe to keep it on you.”

“We’re leaving the locket in Black Manor somewhere away from the elves,” Cassiopeia assured him. 

“I will have it for you by the end of the week,” Snape told them. “I must return to Hogwarts. There is still much to do before school begins.” 

They said goodbye to the man and, with him gone, the siblings sat down in the library together. 

“Is this going to be a problem?” Cassiopeia questioned. “Is there anything we really need him for?”

“At the beginning of the summer, I’d have said yes. Now, though, Amelia is Minister and wartime Chief Warlock, so we’ve got the Ministry well in our grips, especially now that Kingsley is officially Head of the DMLE. We’ve got most of the remaining Horcruxes in our sights - the only one we’ll have issues with is Nagini, but that’ll have to wait until whenever we fight Voldemort. No, I don’t think his death will do much more than leave the Light vulnerable, at which point we can offer them help.”

“Molly stresses me out,” Cassiopeia made a face. “She’s so… maternal that she tries to take everything over. If we offer her protection, we need to make it clear it’s on our terms.”

“I agree,” Regulus nodded. “She has made it very clear she does not like or trust me, so the two of you will need to handle her.”

“The problem with that is that she doesn’t trust me, either, and she thinks Cas is just some kid,” Sirius sighed. “We might need to demand to talk to Arthur. Make it House business.”

“About that,” Cassiopeia spoke up. “Are we going to help them get their seat back? I think it’s a good idea. They are, for the most part, good people.”

“After the war is over,” Sirius agreed. 

“Are you prepared for Hogwarts?” Regulus asked Cassiopeia, a worried frown on his face. She nodded a little. 

“Theo is the other Slytherin prefect for sixth year,” she told them. “He’s going to help me out. Susan and Anthony Goldstein are the prefects in Hufflepuff for sixth year, and Cho and James Travers are Ravenclaw. I don’t know James very well, but I’m hoping he hasn’t been recruited by Voldemort.”

“And Gryffindor?”

“Neville and Parvati. Ginny is fifth-year prefect and so is Luna and Astoria. I’m confident in our teams this year. I’m going to reform the DA - this time the Defense Association, because fuck Dumbledore - and we’re going to make everyone take vows on their magic that they won’t join Voldemort or betray us, things like that. I’d normally say that’s a bit harsh, being on their magic, but I have no doubt we’ll all be involved in the war, this year.”

“Are you going to do anything for the younger years?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I think I’m going to do separate sessions for them and have a few people from each House help me out. We’ll meet twice a week, once for those that were in the DA last year and once for the younger kids. My hope is that we can teach them to protect themselves but overall, they won’t be in the fight too much.” 

“Good plan.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I’ve updated the DA coins. They’re for general messages now, and if it’s an emergency, we can push magic into them - just a little, anyone can do it wandlessly - and it’ll heat up everyone else’s coins until they notice it. Hopefully that helps this year. I’ve put them on chains so we can wear them as necklaces, too.” 

“Brilliant,” Sirius grinned. “You might be the smartest of us all, kitten.”

“And if you are in too much danger,” Regulus told her seriously. “Leave. Come home. You are much safer here than with people who would turn you over to Voldemort any chance they get.”

“If it really does get that bad, then fine,” she agreed. 

“Thank you."

* * *

**September 1st, 1996**

**King’s Cross Station - Platform 9 ¾**

“Maybe we can enlarge it,” Sirius tried. Harry rolled his eyes at his godfather. 

“I’ll be with Neville, Ginny, Luna, and Ron. I’ll be  _ fine _ , Padfoot. Worry about Cassie. She is actively trying to sneak away.”

Sirius spun around to see Cassiopeia trying to weave herself into the crowd. “Cassiopeia Black!” 

She froze and spun around, a sheepish smile on her face. “You’ve told us the same thing five times, Sirius. We’re going to miss the train at this point.” 

“Fine,” the man sighed dramatically and pulled both teenagers into a tight hug. “I love you both. Be safe this year. Hex anyone that looks at you funny.”

“That would be you,” Harry muttered, pulling himself out of the hug with difficulty. “Bye, Padfoot.”

“Bye, Pup.”

Cassiopeia pulled out of Sirius’s hug and wrapped her arms around Regulus, who had been watching quietly. “I’ll be okay.” 

“Come home if you aren’t.”

“I will,” she promised, pulling away. “I’ll write you both tomorrow.” 

“Good luck, kitten.” 

“See you at Christmas,” she called as she slipped away and onto the train. Her friends had gotten them a compartment while she was saying goodbye, and she found her way inside, sitting between Draco and Blaise. “They really don’t want me to go.”

“It’s dangerous,” Ginny shrugged. “I’m surprised they’re letting you go.” 

“They don’t  _ let _ me do anything,” Cassiopeia huffed before pausing. “Where’s Astoria?”

“She wanted to sit with Luna,” Daphne told her. The two were very close friends, and Cassiopeia knew it had bothered Ginny greatly when her oldest friend became close with a Slytherin that her other best friend was also close with. 

“Are you two dating?” Cassiopeia wondered, nudging Draco’s arm. He rolled his eyes at her. 

“Courting, Black. Like you and Blaise should be doing.”

Blaise snorted. “You really think she’d ever let me court her? It’s like you haven’t been friends with her for six years.” 

“If Blaise and I get married, it won’t be because of some contract,” Cassiopeia told him firmly. “It’s an old tradition that I want no part of. There are plenty of pieces of the muggle world that I am perfectly willing to abandon, but the way they marry is not one of them.”

“But how will you know who gets what money and property?” Draco wondered. She shrugged. 

“I have full access to all Black vaults, and Sirius told me that he doesn’t want Black Manor, so it can go to me. Regulus is wholly uninterested in it as well.” 

Her friends stared at her. 

“ _ You _ are inheriting the family property?” Draco asked her in disbelief. She shrugged. “That’s not no big deal, Black! It almost always goes to the Lord of the family!” 

“You weren’t at that dinner,” Daphne remembered. “Sirius announced that all three of them would be running the family.”

“Why?”

Cassiopeia pulled her sleeve up and showed him the bond mark. 

“Oh, Merlin,” Theo breathed. “All three of you?”

“Yep.” 

“Hey, I meant to ask,” Daphne said. “Who did you swear blood fealty to?”

“Oh yeah,” Cassiopeia shook her head in surprise. Most of her friends had gone home for the end of August until school began after that dinner, so she hadn’t gotten the chance to tell them.

“Wait, you  _ what _ ?” Draco gaped. She waved her hand over the glamour on her hand and showed him. 

“So basically, when I was a baby, Regulus swore blood fealty to me, but I was too young, so he couldn’t seal it. He swore it again and sealed it, and I made him let me do the same.”

“Those are bloody powerful,” Ginny told her. “It’s sort of like a twin bond.” 

“How so?”

“Well,” Daphne frowned in thought. “If it goes both ways, you can ignite a twin bond by touching one another’s minds. That’s how Story and I did it, although without the whole fealty thing. Then you can, depending on the strength, speak telepathically to one another. Feel each other’s physical or mental pain.”

“Mental pain?” she questioned. 

“Like if someone enters your mind without your consent,” Theo answered her. She winced slightly. She remembered that pain very clearly. 

“But your bond as it is now, you should know when he’s in danger,” Blaise told her, waving his wand at her hand to cover it up for her. 

“Well,” she hummed. “That might come in handy.” 

* * *

Prefect duties meant escorting first years - of which there were very few - to Slytherin and showing them their dorms. After that was a meeting with their Head of House. Theo and Cassiopeia walked to the potions classroom together where they were surprised to find the room empty aside from Snape. 

“Sir?” Theo said in confusion. 

“The meeting has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning,” he answered, tucking his wand into his pocket. 

“Is everything alright?” Cassiopeia asked, worried. He seemed to consider her for a moment before he shook his head. 

“An emergency Wizengamot meeting was called. There are rumors that Dumbledore pushed one of his followers to request Regulus be arrested for his crimes in the first war.”

Cassiopeia stiffened. “I’m coming.”

“You cannot.”

“The Black family stands together,” she argued. “I am going, Professor. My brother will not be arrested for crimes committed twenty years ago.”

“You are not supposed to leave the castle.”

“Fuck that,” she hissed, holding her arm up to show him the black band, her robes falling to expose it. “This means something. I have to be there.” 

“Fine,” he agreed, waving at the door. “Mister Nott, if you will assure your friends she is with me.”

“I will,” Theo nodded, rubbing Cassiopeia’s shoulder. “Good luck, Cas.” 

“We will need it,” Snape replied shortly. 

* * *

“The fuck is she doing here?” Sirius hissed to his brother, pointing at Cassiopeia entering the room. 

“Severus must have told her,” Regulus replied softly. 

“She does look pretty pissed,” Sirius agreed. “We should probably take her wand.” 

“How are we going to handle this?” Regulus asked softly. Sirius could feel the guilt radiating off of his little brother and he wished he could comfort him, but he knew Regulus had likely committed the crimes accused of him. He’d certainly tortured and killed enough people that he should’ve gone to Azkaban. 

“What the fuck happened?” Cassiopeia hissed to them as she got to them. Sirius wrapped an arm around her and she didn’t notice as he grabbed her wand silently. Her daggers had already been taken by the guards and so she was left defenseless. “Snape said Dumbledore did this.”

Sirius froze, his eyes meeting Regulus’s. “We hadn’t… considered that. Ah, shit.” 

“What are we going to do?” 

“More importantly, how did you convince him to let you come?” Sirius questioned her. She shrugged. 

“No one at school can prevent me from coming to any Wizengamot meetings. I’m the heir of the House. I looked it up and it’s actually illegal to prevent me from coming. Snape knew that, so he didn’t fight me too much.”

“If everyone could take their seats,” Amelia called. Before Regulus could move down to the floor where a chair waited for him, Cassiopeia grabbed him in a tight hug.

“It’ll be okay. They wouldn’t dare arrest you for crimes committed twenty years ago. As disgusting as it is, you’re a Black and therefore somewhat untouchable.”

Regulus nodded silently and made his way to the floor, and Cassiopeia took her seat at Sirius’s side. Both of them didn’t bother to cover the fury they felt as Amelia called the meeting to order. 

“This is an emergency meeting to discuss the alleged crimes of Regulus Arcturus Black in the first war of Voldemort. The alleged crimes are as follows: torture by means of the Cruciatus curse of Mary Macdonald and the murder of Mary Macdonald by means of the Killing Curse. The charges are brought by Roger Macdonald, who is with us today. Prosecution may state their case.”

Roger got to his feet, working with no lawyer because of the short notice. Cassiopeia hated herself for feeling such relief that the victim was a muggleborn girl - their chances of winning had greatly increased. 

“On September 10th, 1978, my sister Mary was attacked in our parents’ home. She was taken by a Death Eater who told us she would be tortured and killed because we’re not magical like her and because she’d defied Voldemort. For six days, we didn’t know what happened. On September 16th, 1978, her body was recovered in a nearby alley by Hit Wizards James Potter and Sirius Black. Sirius Black recognized the magical signature on her body to be that of his brother, Regulus Black. The evidence was given to Aurors and the case was lost. The next year, Regulus was announced dead. Now, he is here and for the past two months, no one has bothered to bring him to justice for the crimes he has committed. My sister deserves peace after these eighteen years and to know that the man that tortured and killed her will be in Azkaban.”

“Thank you, Roger,” Amelia said. “The Defense may now state their case.”

Sirius and Cassiopeia got to their feet. As the Head and Heir of their House, they were not only allowed but expected to either defend him themselves or find someone better suited to do it. On such short notice, they were the only options. However, as Sirius had been one of the Hit Wizards to find Mary’s body, he wasn’t allowed to defend him and Cassiopeia was forced to handle her brother’s defense. 

“Regulus has made mistakes in his life,” she began slowly. Her goal was to generally distract the Wizengamot and make them believe that if she of all people could forgive him, then perhaps he truly did deserve to be forgiven. “I more than anyone else know this. The war was a difficult place to be, especially in my family. I was born in the midst of it, but Regulus and Sirius both lived it out. Sirius rebelled and was punished badly for it. Regulus, having watched our brother be hurt for daring to disagree with our mother, decided to go the safe route. He kept his head down and did what was expected of him because if he hadn’t, he could’ve been killed. 

“I am not being dramatic. On December 24th, 1976, our mother, Walburga Black, along with Bellatrix Lestrange, tortured Sirius, attempting to force him to join the Dark Lord Voldemort. He barely lived and only because our father Orion shoved him through the floo to Charlus and Dorea Potter, who took him to St. Mungo’s and adopted him. He was free of our family, but Regulus was not. He was alone with our parents, and they wanted to make him the new Black heir. Walburga pushed him to Voldemort and, fearing for his life, he went. 

“As a Death Eater, there are certain things you must do to avoid Voldemort’s fury. Regulus was forced to do things that will certainly haunt him for the rest of his life. For example, Voldemort tricked him into torturing me with the Cruciatus curse for three days before I managed to tell him who I am. Since we returned to my rightful time, I’ve seen the regret in him for the things he’s done. I know he regrets more than just hurting me. Regulus is a good, kind person. If he hurt Mary Macdonald, he only did it out of fear for his own life. He is a Slytherin at heart, just as nearly all of our family is. Just because he looked out for his life first doesn’t mean that he did any of the things he did willingly.” 

“Thank you, Miss Black,” Amelia nodded. “I move we vote now and get this over with unless either of you have anything to add?”

“I think the facts speak for themselves,” Roger said firmly, not worried at all by Cassiopeia’s speech. 

“No, the defense rests,” Cassiopeia smiled at Amelia, who nodded. 

“Those in favor of conviction,” Kingsley said, looking around the room. A few from the Light raised their hands, as well as a few from the dark, and Cassiopeia breathed out in relief at the sight. “Those in favor of dropping all charges.”

All of the new grey alliance raised their hands, as well as half of the light and half of the dark. It was an overwhelming win.

“Cleared of all charges,” Amelia announced, slamming her gavel down to dismiss the court. Cassiopeia let out a sharp breath of relief. They hadn’t even spoken to Sirius, much to her relief. Going off of facts alone, they’d never win. 

The Wizengamot stood and began filing out, and Cassiopeia stayed where she was, sitting back in her seat to wait for her brothers as Sirius retrieved Regulus from the middle of the floor, speaking quietly to Kingsley. A hand touched her cheek and she flinched back. 

“Get the fuck away from me,” she spat, her hand moving to her pocket for her wand. When she couldn’t find it, her heart rate picked up. 

“I am so pleased that you’re back,” he told her, waving his wand around them. She wasn’t sure what he’d cast, but it worried her greatly. “We have a lot of catching up to do, Cassiopeia.” 

“How’s your shoulder doing?” she asked as casually as she could, despite her fast breathing and the panic crawling from her stomach to her throat. She didn’t even notice as the band on her finger lit up. 

Dolohov’s eyes flashed angrily. “Fucking bitch. I’ll get you for that.” He pointed his wand at her but before he could cast, he was thrown over the chair behind her and crumpled to the ground. Cassiopeia let out a sharp, shaky breath at the sight of a panicked Regulus. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. She was wrapped in a side hug and pulled out of the wizengamot chambers, leaving Sirius behind to deal with Dolohov. 

“Are you okay?” he asked her, looking her over. “Did he do anything?” 

“Aside from threatening me again? No,” she shook her head, letting him squeeze her gently in concern. She was shaking slightly when Sirius and Snape came out together, Sirius looking extremely angry and Snape annoyed. 

“I assume you are fine,” Snape said. She nodded a little, stepping back from Regulus. 

“What happened? He cast something around us but I don’t know what.”

“The bond,” Regulus explained. “The band lit up when you were in obvious danger, and when I touched the ward he put up, it fell, assumedly because the magic of the bond was stronger than that of his ward.” 

“Thank you,” she offered him a small smile. 

“Kingsley said we can’t arrest him,” Sirius growled, looking angrier by the second. “Because he didn’t actually touch you.”

“I mean, he touched my cheek,” she said, shivering as she remembered it. “It’s fine. I’m going back to school anyway and he can’t get to me there.” 

“Not for now,” Sirius muttered. 

“Speaking of,” Snape interrupted. “We must get back.”

“I know,” she sighed, hugging both of her brothers before walking over to the floo Snape was waiting at. “Please stay out of trouble, both of you.”

“I’m supposed to be telling you that,” Sirius laughed softly. “So stay out of trouble, and if you can’t do that, then don’t get caught.”

“That is atrocious advice,” Snape glared. “She more than anyone needs to stay out of trouble.” 

“I think I agree with Severus,” Regulus said. Cassiopeia rolled her eyes and stepped into the floo. 

“Okay, bye!”

“We love you, kitten,” Sirius told her with a smile. “We’ll see you at Christmas.” 

“I love you guys too,” she promised before throwing down the floo powder and returning to Hogwarts, this time for good.

* * *


	22. Defense Association

**September 7th, 1996**

**Room of Requirement**

“Will you all  _ shut up _ ?”

Cassiopeia snorted as everyone did as they were asked finally. “Thanks, Gin.” The girl nodded firmly and she reminded herself once more why it was a good thing she was friends with Ginny and not enemies. She was scary. 

“So who exactly is in charge now?” Dean Thomas called, looking at the group in front of him. Cassiopeia stood between Harry and Theo with Daphne, Ron and Ginny on Harry’s other side and Blaise and Draco by Cassiopeia. Astoria had already made her way over to Luna, who was watching them curiously. To Cassiopeia’s dismay, everyone in the group turned to her. 

“Harry!” she exclaimed. “This is  _ your _ group!” 

“That was your idea and that you’ve renamed,” he reminded her. “Rightfully so after that shit with Regulus, but still.”

“Regulus who?” Seamus asked. “And why does he get to decide the name of our group?”

Suddenly Cassiopeia realized that a good amount of the people in front of her likely didn’t know anything that had happened over the summer, which had been quite a bit. With a resigned sigh, she readied herself to explain.

“Some things have happened this summer,” she said slowly. “Everyone remembers, obviously, that I’m Cassiopeia Black?”

“Um, yeah, you’ve been Cassiopeia Black since fourth year,” Cho reminded her. 

Cassiopeia paused to look at Draco. “Most of them wouldn’t know a great deal of what’s happened, would they?”

“No,” he agreed. “Even heirs might not know. It’s clear who you are, but anything past that probably didn’t go far.”

Cassiopeia let out a short noise of annoyance. “Okay, well, that’s… a lot. I guess we should explain everything.”

“We don’t need to know your entire life, Black,” Justin told her. She shot him a short glare. 

“Unfortunately for me, I’m a Black, just as you said. My life is a large part of everything that’s going on. A lot of this is important for the state of the world right now. We want to teach you guys so you know how to protect yourselves and others, and we all know there’s a war coming. So just shut up and listen to what I have to say.”

“Sometimes she’s scarier than Mrs. Weasley,” Harry muttered to Daphne. He got two nods of agreement from Ron and Ginny and a short laugh from his girlfriend. 

“Okay,” Cassiopeia said loudly so the entire crowd could hear her. “Before fourth year, Sirius found out that I’m his sister. You all know that. What you don’t know is that Theo and I went back to mine and Harry’s old muggle family and Obliviated them.”

“You  _ what _ ?” Harry asked sharply, tensing. She hadn’t told him at all, preferring rather to avoid the argument. 

“I had to,” she said apologetically. “After… Harry, they could’ve tried to sue us.”

“For  _ what _ ?” Ron asked her. She scowled at him darkly. 

“Harry, you remember all that blood on me when Sirius brought me home from St. Mungo’s?”

“Yeah, you said Dudley- you hurt Dudley. You think they could’ve sued us for that?”

“He was really badly hurt,” she shrugged. “It could’ve been bad if Snape hadn’t gotten there when he did.”

“You  _ attacked a muggle _ ?” Seamus asked her in disgust. 

“No, actually,” she tilted her head at him. “ _ He _ attacked  _ me _ . I passed out and woke up to him still- still hurting me, so I used my daggers to get him away from me because I didn’t have my wand. I’m not saying Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would’ve wanted to venture into magical law to sue me or Sirius, but if they knew how fucking rich we are, Harry… you know them.”

“They would’ve,” he agreed reluctantly. “But Sirius could’ve gotten it thrown out I’m sure.” 

Cassiopeia shrugged. “They never should’ve had us, especially me. I split them up.”

“After that giant man tried to kill you,” Theo added. He was still extremely worried, mostly because she’d refused to talk about the situation with him. 

“ _ And he didn’t _ ,” Cassiopeia shot back. “The reason I’m telling everyone this is because with the protections that were on them before I took their memories and sent them away, no one should have known about them. If you hear rumors, whispers of the Dursleys being targeted, I need to know. It means something got fucked up along the way."

“Isn’t that what you’ve got your Death Eater friends for?” Alicia Spinnet asked. It wasn’t a question coming from malice, just genuine curiosity. 

“Theo’s father died over the summer,” Cassiopeia told her slowly. “So he is no longer immediately connected to Voldemort - get over it, it’s a fucking name. Blaise’s mother joined our alliance and they came to live with us. Draco is a Black. He would be disowned and sent to Azkaban if he ever joined Voldemort, and he never would. We’re actively working to find Lucius and send him back to Azkaban or even somewhere more secure.”

“Can we get back to everything?” Harry asked her, nudging her arm. “I want to actually practice today.”

“Fine. So Sirius became Lord Black, obviously, and he made me the Black heir.”

“But you’re a girl!” Justin Finch-Fletchley exclaimed. Ginny shot him a glare. “I just mean the wizarding world is a patriarchy.”

“Yep, and Sirius decided to fuck that,” she replied. “Mostly because the only other choice at the time was Harry, and he’s just recently taken up Lordship of the House of Potter.”

“Are you telling me that the two most powerful Houses in the wizarding world are now Allied?” Cho asked, eyes wide. 

“Yes, we are,” Cassiopeia confirmed. “Anyway, aside from me being Heir, we held a family meeting. We brought the Tonks’ back into the House of Black.”

“The metamorphagus?” Michael said, eyes wide. At her nod, he blinked. “My brother dated her for two years. I didn’t realize she belonged to the House of Black.”

“Her mother is Andromeda Tonks  née Black. She was kicked out of the Black family in ‘71 for marrying and having a child with a muggleborn man. Sirius was there. It was brutal. He brought them back in first because the rest of the meeting was less pleasant.”

“How so?” 

“Let’s see… we questioned Rodolphus Lestrange on what he’s done for the war. Turns out, he didn’t really want to do any of this shit. I wouldn’t have believed him, but Sirius used some old family magic to make sure he couldn’t lie. After that, he had Rabastan arrested for what he’s done. Then… ah, he called Judgment on Bellatrix.”

Everyone reacted in different ways, ranging from disgust, intrigue, and complete confusion. 

“She died,” she continued when the voices died down. “She deserved to die. She permanently damaged an Ancient and Noble House and tortured the old heir of my own House for hours trying to get him to join Voldemort. She tortured her own sister, for Merlin’s sake. It’s over and no one’s disagreement with the choice can change that.”

“Merlin,” Hannah whispered. “Is that even legal?”

“You can’t really make  _ magic _ judging someone’s actions illegal,” she rolled her eyes. “There is no higher power of judgment than magic itself, which is why it hasn’t been made illegal. Made a bunch of Death Eaters uncomfortable at the Wizengamot meeting, though. That was funny.” 

“Cas,” Harry complained again. She stuck her tongue out at him in a childish manner and turned back to the DA.

“So we reassembled the Potter Alliance. I tried to do it before Sirius, but the fucking Wizengamot had the nerve to  _ deny _ it because I’m a girl and- ah, it doesn’t matter. We’re back. We essentially take up the Grey area. While the Light is led by Dumbledore and the Dark is led by… I’m not sure, actually, now that Theo’s father died.”

“About that,” Blaise frowned at her apologetically. “They announced their new leader last week. Parkinson told me on the train. It’s Dolohov.”

Cassiopeia took in a slow breath and let it out before she could continue again. “Right. The Light is led by Dumbledore, the Dark is led by… Dolohov, and the Grey is led by us. Unlike them, we don’t have a clear, single family leader. I’ve been working on this for a long time with Daniel Greengrass, and then Sirius jumped in to help, and then Harry became Lord Potter and is holding up the Potter name. It’s the three of us, really."

“Um… so I knew who Umbridge was in my first year, actually. See, Remus Lupin - yes, that Remus Lupin - was assigned by our parents as regent for the House of Potter, but Umbridge proposed a law that made it illegal for a werewolf to work for an Ancient and Noble House. Dumbledore put in a lot of work to push it through. I didn’t really understand why at first, but I get it now.”

“ _ Why _ ?” Harry asked her, surprised. 

“Well, I’ve done a lot of reading on wizarding law, specifically around children and orphans. So basically, we should’ve been taken to our closest relatives - the Dursleys - while our regent got ahold of our parents wills and figured out where we were supposed to go. If Remus  _ had _ been our regent, he could’ve done just that. We would’ve gone to Sirius or Neville’s parents or even Andromeda and Ted. But Dumbledore became our regent and he left us there and never looked for their wills, so-,” Cassiopeia froze, not even breathing as a thought occurred to her that she’d never considered before. “Oh- oh my god.”

“Are you okay?” Daphne asked her, touching her arm. “You’re pale.”

Cassiopeia nodded shakily and set her idea aside for later. She couldn’t do anything about it at the moment, anyway. “I just- I had a thought. It’s nothing. Uh… where was I?”

“Dumbledore was our regent,” Harry reminded her with a small frown of concern. 

“Yeah. So he pushed the law through while our parents were in hiding and couldn’t attend any Wizengamot meetings and… we grew up with the Dursleys.”

“But Dumbledore wouldn’t do something like that,” Ron disagreed. Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at him but didn’t reply to his denial.

“Anyway, I knew who she was. I did a lot of research before fifth year on the laws she’s put up to be passed. And when we found out she was going to be teaching, we realized how many of her laws could be put into question while she wasn’t there to defend them. So it was so fucking important that she stay at Hogwarts. If anybody but me had been in any danger, I would’ve told Sirius. Since no one else was, we left it. 

“I know a lot of you know about this, especially with the rumors Daphne spread,” Cassiopeia shot a glance at her friend, who just grinned back at her. “But at the end of the year, there was a fight in the Department of Mysteries. A lot of Death Eaters showed up, some people died - none of us, luckily - and something called the Order of the Phoenix showed up to help us. Um, so, a Death Eater grabbed me and held onto me during the fight with the intention of taking me… somewhere. I got away from him when it became clear no one could see us or hear us, but he hexed me pretty bad.”

“He nearly killed her,” Draco disagreed. “And he  _ still _ wasn’t arrested.”

“We’re getting into the part you’re all gonna lose your shit over, so please just don’t yell,” Cassiopeia requested. “There was a Wizengamot meeting July 1st. We were just on a recess after arguing for three hours because those people are shitty people, and I wanted to take a walk, so… I did, but I ended up in the DOM, in the same room we all fought in. There was something called the Veil of Death. 

“The man that held me back during the battle followed me there. I didn’t notice him until it was too late. He works down there, so I tried to distract him, ask him questions. He’d taken my wand, so I couldn’t exactly use it to stun him.”

“Don’t you have those scary daggers?” Lavender questioned. Draco scoffed. 

“You cannot bring anything but a wand into the Wizengamot. Her daggers are taken from her before every meeting.”

Cassiopeia nodded. “I tried fighting him wandlessly, but I’m not too skilled at that, so I eventually knocked him out and passed out and… sort of fell into the Veil and woke up in 1979.”

There was a beat of silence. 

“...you what?” 

Cassiopeia raised her wand in the air so they could see. “I, Cassiopeia Narcissa Black, do swear on my wand and magic that I accidentally ended up in 1979 from December 10th to December 13th.”

It flashed brightly, signaling that she was telling the truth, and she gave them all a moment to calm themselves. When they didn’t, Ginny screamed at them again. 

“ _ Shut it _ !”

“Thanks,” Cassiopeia smiled faintly at her friend. “Yeah. So I showed up in Potter Manor, probably because I live there. Um… I met James and Lily Potter. We talked a bit, they helped heal some injuries and got me some potions I needed. Sirius actually showed up and… wow, I like his adult self much better than his nineteen-year-old self. He was so reactive. 

“But… I knew those dates because December 13th was the day that Regulus, my other brother, died. And I’ve wanted to meet him since… I don’t know. For a long time. So after I was all healed up and borrowed a wand - which I keep forgetting to put back - I left to find a Death Eater I knew Regulus was close with. I just… miscalculated. I know this man but he was a lot different when he was younger and he took me to Voldemort. I was disguised, so no one aside from James, Lily, and Sirius recognized me.”

“Disguised? How?” 

Cassiopeia waved her wand over herself to show them her brown hair and eyes. She quickly removed it, though, because it gave her the uncomfortable feeling of needing to escape again. “Voldemort found out I’m from the future and my name and that I know a lot about him and how to end the war, so he…”

“You don’t have to tell them,” Theo reminded her gently. She flashed him a small smile. 

“This doesn’t bother me. So… Voldemort gagged me and told Regulus to torture me to death. And he tried. It took me two days before I had drained my core enough to remove the glamour and he recognized me and stopped.”

“Your  _ brother _ tortured you?” Dean asked her, horrified. She smiled at him.

“I look at it as Voldemort. Regulus… Sirius showed me the memory. When I was born, Orion took me to meet them in some muggle pub. Regulus swore to protect me and… it was clear he hated Voldemort. He told Orion I deserved better than to grow up in a world run by Voldemort. What I’m trying to say is just that he’d never have done it if he knew.

“He was working on getting rid of Voldemort, too. He stole something from him, something more precious to him than anything else. So when he saw me, he took me to one of his homes and healed me. Then I brought him here.”

“ _ Here _ ?” Hannah asked her, surprised. “You said he’s dead.”

“We figured that out,” Cassiopeia nodded. “Because when Sirius found out I was his sister, he went to the family tree tapestry and did every revealing spell he could, including dark blood magic. It only showed me as still alive. Not Regulus, not our father, not bloody Arcturus. Just me. But when we showed up at school - Snape is my first magical guardian so the spell sent us to him - the tapestry changed and it sent a notification to the ministry that Regulus was alive. I think he just had to be  _ in _ time to be declared alive.”

“So you’re telling me that you went to the past, were tortured by your own Death Eater brother, and then decided to bring him back here with you? As if we don’t have enough Death Eaters already?” Justin stared at her in disbelief. Her lips thinned. 

“It’s more complicated than that, okay?”

“How?” Colin asked her gently. He was older now and it always surprised her, but he was just as kind as when he was younger, if less excitable. 

“For Merlin’s sake,” Draco rolled his eyes. “Just show them the mark, Black.”

With an annoyed sigh, Cassiopeia rolled up her sleeve and took the glamour of her arm and finger. She trusted everyone there, and they’d already taken the necessary secrecy vows, so they couldn’t tell anyone, anyway. “These are bond marks. The one on my arm is for Sirius, Regulus, and I. It means we’ll be running the House of Black together, and that we’ll protect each other. The mark on my finger is different. It’s a blood fealty mark. I swore fealty on our blood to Regulus and he did the same - he did the vows when I was a baby. He’s always been loyal to me, and he’d  _ never _ hurt me on purpose. I know he hates himself for all of the things he’s done, and he’s actively helping us fight this war. Why would he go back to Voldemort? He was tortured by him when he got back here.” 

“That’s such a serious thing, though,” Hannah called. “That means you’d die for him.”

“I would,” she stared at the girl in confusion. “I’d have sworn it to Sirius too, but we did both bonds in the same day and the first one took a lot of blood. By the time I was okay again, he hexed my mouth shut whenever I suggested it, so I don’t really think he’s willing to do that.”

“Fuck, the Black family is just as terrifying as I’ve always heard,” Michael said with a short laugh. “So you’re not all loyal to Voldemort then?”

Cassiopeia glared at him. “Obviously not. Anyone in the House that  _ does _ join him will be promptly kicked out. We also are not loyal to Dumblecu-,”

“Cas,” Blaise snorted. “Seriously.” 

“Fine.  _ Dumbledore _ . He’s a dick.”

“Yeah, that’s how we got on this subject,” Harry reminded her. “Because of what he did to Regulus.”

“What did he do?” Terry asked. 

“So when we got back to this time, the Wizengamot was rescheduled to the 8th instead of that day because the person that attacked me was… unable to join them, as well as the entire House of Black, which came here to see me.” 

“Who attacked you?” Seamus asked her. Before she could ignore them, Astoria answered. 

“Dolohov.” At the dark glare she received, she shrugged. “He’s after your head, Cassie. People need to know.” 

“Yes, it was Dolohov.”

“But he grabbed you during the fight at the DOM,” Ginny frowned. She certainly hadn’t heard all of this, only getting the bare details. 

“He hurt me in the past one night,” Cassiopeia told them stiffly. “Regulus said that he… fixates on people sometimes, and it seems he’s done that with me. Can we move on now?”

“Sorry.”

“Anyway, when we went to the rescheduled meeting, the whole… Umbitch situation came up because someone asked me how I could be so fine. Realistically, I wasn’t and still am not, but I’d taken a fuck ton of potions in preparation, so… anyway, Umbridge sort of attacked me and got run out of the Wizengamot, so Aurors are after her now. It also sort of accidentally came out that Dumbledore knew about it and did nothing, and he was removed from his Ministry appointed positions, and Amelia Bones replaced him as Chief Warlock. She’s also Minister now because honestly, fuck Scrimgeour.”

“You got Dumbledore removed from the Ministry?” Zacharias asked, getting her back to the point. 

“Yeah. Not… on purpose, but Amelia said he had to be investigated, and he sort of blames us. By us, I mean the Black family. So he pointed a muggleborn woman’s brother to Regulus. The woman had been tortured and killed, and it’s fucking awful, but it was an attack on our family to try and weaken us. The trial was an emergency one and we won, but we’re going to pay reparations to the family and see if there’s anything else we can do. 

“The entire point is Dumbledore is pissed that his actions came to bite him in the ass and is blaming us. Plus he left Harry and I with the Dursleys and left Sirius in Azkaban for twelve years despite having the power to pardon him at any time. He left Harry and I with the muggles so that Harry would be willing to fight this war and literally die for it - it’s a long story, Harry had to and he did but he’s obviously fine now - and he’s done all of this in the name of the Greater Good. Hell, he manipulated Snape into telling him information in front of sensitive ears in the name of the Greater Good.”

“Wait, what does that mean?” Cho asked with a frown. “Are you saying he made Snape tell him stuff in front of people that would use it against you?”

“No, I’m saying he made Snape tell the entire Order that Dolohov was after us specifically and assigned by Voldemort in front of me, despite Snape’s greater knowledge of what he did to me and- fuck, it doesn’t matter, it was just a shit thing to do.”

“But Dumbledore is fighting Voldemort,” Ron told her. “He’s a good person.”

“Have you listened to anything she’s said?” Ginny asked him, irritated. “He might be fighting a good cause but he’s definitely not a good person, Ronald.”

“Okay, so if we’re not called Dumbledore’s Army anymore, what are we called?” Susan asked, smiling back at Cassiopeia when she looked at her in relief. 

“Defense Association. I have no doubt Snape would, under normal circumstances, be a good DADA professor, but since he’s forced to act as a spy for the Order, he can only teach us so many things. That is why I’m going to meet with him a couple of times a week privately to learn whatever he  _ wants _ to teach us, and then I’ll teach it to you guys.”

“Are we going to actually learn anything today or…?”

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at Ron and nodded. “The first thing I want to teach you all is some basic warding to make an area or even just yourself invisible or silent. Let’s get working.”

* * *

**September 12th, 1996**

**Hogwarts**

“I don’t understand why I’m having such a hard time,” Cassiopeia complained after casting. Her  _ conflandum quicquam  _ hit the stone slab perfectly, and she watched it melt around the dummy and solidify again. “The instructions don’t work right. Harry blew up a cauldron yesterday.”

“I have appealed multiple times to the board to ban that book,” Snape scowled, scrawling in the margins of her potions book. She did her best not to yell at him for it. Whatever he was doing, she guessed it was to fix the mistakes of the book. “Again.”

“I have it,” she argued. “Can we move on? I’m tired of melting rock.”

“No. Again.”

With a scowl, she reversed what she’d done with the more difficult spell and cast it again. “Where did you find these? I’ve read a lot of defense books and I’ve never heard of them.”

“They are of my own creation, and extremely useful, so stop chattering and  _ keep working _ .”

Cassiopeia paused to look over at him as he scoffed at her book and spelled an entire page blank before rewriting it, correctly this time. “Is it really that wrong?”

“Yes. Fools such as Mister Potter using these instructions is a recipe for disaster, as proven by the exploding cauldron.” 

Cassiopeia frowned as she struggled to control the reversal spell. “Why is this one so difficult?”

“Because you are trying to melt it again, pull every bit of it off of the dummy, and then solidify it again in the correct shape, safely away from the dummy,” he explained calmly. She listened and realized it made sense. She was too impatient and a spell like that needed a calm caster and time. She did it again, grinning when it happened much easier.

“Good,” he nodded, setting her book down on the bench and walking over to her. “The next one I am going to teach you is not to be taught to your DA, do you understand?”

“Okay, but why?”

“It is another of my creation, and it is extremely dangerous,” he explained. “It splits a person open. It cannot miss or be shielded by anything but magic because it curves to hit the target as it is drawn to the nearest blood source. When it does hit its target, it tears them open and pulls blood to the surface so that the target will bleed out faster. It is meant to kill. It is called Sectumsempra.”

Cassiopeia nodded quietly. She understood why he didn’t want her to give it out. She correctly assumed that he hadn’t given it to anyone, either. “How are you going to teach it to me if it goes to the nearest blood source?”

“I have filled that dummy with animal blood,” he explained. “I will put a shield around us both and you will cast it. It is not a hard curse to cast; the control of it is the difficult part.”

“Okay.”

“And you will do it wandlessly.”

“ _ What _ ? I can’t do that! I can barely do the base spells and that’s after a full summer of practicing.” 

“And you are advancing at a much quicker rate than anyone expected,” he told her, irritated. “You can do this and you will.”

“But-,”

“It is imperative that you learn to defend yourself properly without a wand. While there are spells to prevent wandless magic, some so simple as a stunner, most don’t know wandless magic and therefore do not think to cast such spells. In an emergency, this spell could save your life, so you will learn it.”

Reluctantly, Cassiopeia put her wand back in the holster and took in a deep breath, pointing her hand at the dummy he’d pointed at while he raised a shield around them. Wandless magic didn’t require any special movements like most spells would with a wand, so she held her hand steady and spoke the spell softly. “ _ Sectumsempra _ .”

The red spell shot from her wand and hit the dummy, cutting it open expertly. She watched in fascination as the blood poured from the dummy. 

“Good,” he told her, dropping the shield. He moved over and began healing it quietly, the blood moving back into it with a liquid containment charm. “Again.”

They kept going at that for an hour before they switched places. He cast the spell and she healed the dummy. The spell to heal it was extremely difficult and took all of her undivided attention. When they finished at that, he went back to revising her book while she started on another spell from the defense book he’d wanted to use for the year. 

“Put your wand away.”

The words startled her and she ended up chopping off the head of a dummy as well as breaking a nearby mirror. “What?”

Annoyed, he waved at her hand silently, and she gasped when the wand flew out of her hand and into his. “For the rest of the session, everything you cast will be wandless.”

“But I can’t-,”

“You can,” he disagreed sharply. “Do it. We will end when I finish this chapter.”

She paused. “Thanks for that. I was going crazy getting low marks.”

“Slughorn is a fool assigning this book,” was all the response she got. With a sigh, she turned back to the casting. It was more difficult but certainly not impossible and she was surprised to find that the more she cast, the more effortless it was. Suddenly she wondered how advanced they’d all be if Snape had been her DADA teacher the entire time.

* * *

**September 14th, 1996**

**Room of Requirement**

“Wait, you’re doing  _ what _ ?” 

Harry looked between Cassiopeia and Daphne. “Studying to be an Auror?”

“ _ Why _ ?” Daphne questioned.

“I’m good at DADA?”

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at him. “So study to become a Defense Master or a duelist. Don’t spend literally your entire life fighting dark wizards, Harry. You’re exhausted by it, you told both of us separately over summer, and I know that because we talked because we love you and we’re worried about you.”

“I hadn’t considered anything else,” he admitted sheepishly. 

“So you’ll stop this ridiculous idea?” Daphne questioned. When he nodded, she reached into his backpack, grabbed his potions book, and lit it on fire, dropping it into the trash can next to the bench they sat on.

“Hey!” he exclaimed. 

“Look, I love you, but you’re useless in potions regardless of who teaches it,” Daphne told him. “You don’t need it to duel or Master DADA, so please drop it.”

“...okay.”

“ _ Thank you _ .”

“Justin!” Cassiopeia screamed loudly. Everyone looked between the two as her hair began to spark. Across from Justin was a new member, a Ravenclaw named Kaitlin who currently found herself with her shirt melting off of her. Cho rushed forward and reversed the spell for her, pulling her away from the boy, whose laughter was dying as he stared at their furious leader. “I cannot  _ imagine _ a good reason for  _ ever _ doing that. You’d better come up with one quick.”

At his silence, she nodded, her hair sparking so much that Daphne and Harry had to back up. Cassiopeia stalked over to him and pointed her hand at him. “ _ Secretum adhæsit _ .” Justin’s eyes went blank and she didn’t bother to catch him as he fell back, unconscious, though Dean did because it was either that or go down with him. 

“Uh, Cas,” Theo frowned. “What exactly did you just do?”

“In the contracts you all signed, there was a spell of my own creation,” she explained to the group that stared at her. “If you do something unacceptable, like sexually harass or assault someone, I can cast that spell and you will forget that the DA exists, not just this year but last year as well. It is not a spell I ever imagined having to use, but… I’m not exactly a trusting person. Justin fucked up and he is not welcome back. He won’t forget what he’s learned but he won’t know where he learned it. More than that, your secrecy vows will not allow you to tell him of the DA or that he learned anything here. I am very serious about this - Harry I’ll fucking hex you, now is  _ not _ the time to make a pun about my brother - so watch yourselves.” 

“Don’t you think that’s a little extreme? I mean, all he did was melt her shirt,” one of Justin’s friends, Gabriel, said, making a face at her. She leveled her gaze at him. 

“No. I don’t. Everyone deserves to feel safe here, and by doing that, he has made not just Kaitlin feel unsafe and uncomfortable, but me and likely every other girl here. Rather than policing us like the rest of the world does, I’m holding him accountable for his actions. That isn’t ridiculous, Gabe, and if you think it is then maybe you should go, too.”

“Oh, come on,” he rolled his eyes. “Any girl that actually felt uncomfortable by that, raise your hand.”

Cassiopeia felt a sick satisfaction when every girl in the room raised their hand, though a large part of her also felt awful for allowing all of those girls to feel unsafe.

“Stay or go, I don’t care,” she told him sharply. “But someone needs to get him out of here. He’ll wake up in twenty minutes.”

Gabe scowled at her and levitated Justin out of the room, leaving her to walk over to Kaitlin and pull her out of the room into the hall. 

“I’m so sorry,” she told the girl. “I understand if you don’t want to come back.”

“I do,” Katilin promised. “It means a lot to me that you dealt with it like that.” 

“I know what it’s like,” she confided quietly. “I’ve been in your place. It’s scary. I’ll always believe you and any other girls that tell me they’ve been harassed or assaulted.” 

“Thank you.”

* * *

**October 6th, 1996**

**Quidditch Pitch**

“He’s disgusting,” Cassiopeia said, throwing a wrapper at her boyfriend. “Shut up.”

“He’s winking at you,” Blaise teased. “Better go give him a kiss.”

“I’ll hex you, you prat,” she huffed as McLaggen flew over to her. 

“Is there a problem here, Potter?”

Cassiopeia sucked in a breath. No one had called her that in a long time, nearly all of the school respecting her understandable name change for the three years it had been changed. News had gotten out about the bond between the three siblings, though only because it had been published in the Daily Profit. “My name is Cassiopeia Black. I’m fine, McLaggen.”

“Well, sure, but you were raised by muggles as a Potter, so who are you really?”

“Cas,  _ no _ ,” Blaise said sharply, grabbing her hands before she could hex him. She pulled them away from him and held out her hand to the boy. When he tried to grab it, she shook it in front of his face, her heir ring glinting in the sun. 

“Who am I really? I’m the heir to the House of Black, not some defenseless muggleborn girl you can snog and then forget. I’m pretty, but you should remember my House isn’t known to be  _ stable _ .”

“Right,” McLaggen let out a startled laugh. “Well, I should get back to tryouts. Wish me luck.”

“Mm.”

When he’d flown off again, she scooted down to the end of the stands, Blaise and Theo following her. 

“What are you doing?” Theo asked her warily. 

“He’s an asshole. His ego doesn’t need to be on the Quidditch team,” she explained, silently and wandlessly casting Confondus so that he missed the Quaffle, which flew through the hoops. 

“You know that’ll mean Ron gets the ego boost, right?” Theo reminded her. She shrugged. 

“At least he has the decency to call me the correct name,” she shot back. “And he doesn’t want to snog me.”

“Yikes,” Blaise winced when McLaggen shot to the left so abruptly that he nearly fell off his broom. “Relax, Cas, you’re not trying to kill him.”

“I’m done, anyway. He’s officially caught fewer than Ron did.”

“So Ron’s my competition now?” Blaise laughed. “I think I can live with that.”

“Better not tell Harry,” she told them as an afterthought. “He’d probably kick Ron off and tell Snape.”

“You think he wouldn’t let you off easy?”

She scoffed as she got to her feet and left the pitch. They’d gone down for Blaise’s sake as he was on the team and Draco, who couldn’t come because he was in detention for smuggling firewhiskey into the castle for the second time in a month. “If there’s one thing he cares about in this school, it’s winning at Quidditch, and winning on fair terms. You saw him ban Yaxley from the team two years ago for hexing the twins off their brooms during Gryffindor practice, right? He did it in the Great Hall, in front of the entire school. He’d give me detention for months.”

“And why would I do that, Miss Black?”

Cassiopeia let out a startled yelp as she turned to find Snape behind them in the corridor. “Fuck, you walk quiet.”

“Did you meddle with the Gryffindor tryouts?” he asked her sharply. 

“No,” she tried. “I only went because Blaise wanted to. I was reading.”

Snape looked to Theo. “What did she do?”

Theo, fully unable to lie to those he trusted, winced. “Confounded McLaggen.”

“He was being an asshole!” She defended when he looked at her. “He refused to call me by my name, tried to invalidate my place in my House, and talked down to me because he still sees me as a muggleborn even though I  _ wasn’t _ even if I was a Potter. Please, sir, I have to see him at Slug Club meetings. Don’t tell McGonagall or Harry. He does  _ not _ need the ego boost.”

“Detention for two months,” he told her. “I would tell your brother but as I am the only magical guardian you have that would care, I know there is no point. Get back to your dorm, Miss Black, and don’t leave until the morning. And elf will bring you your dinner.”

Cassiopeia let out a sigh and, with her friend and boyfriend next to her, made her way quickly to the dungeons. Once inside Slytherin and settled on a couch, she threw her head back.

“I feel like I’ve been grounded.”

“You sort of have,” Blaise laughed. “He even pulled the magical guardian card, Cas. You were right - he’s pissed.”

“Yeah, but did you guys notice Pansy?” Theo questioned. “I think she heard.”

“Ah, shit.”

“Are you going to Obliviate her?”

Cassiopeia shrugged. “I can’t do shit until she comes back. I think he put a strong compulsion charm on me to stay here.”

Blaise, despite the situation, let out a laugh. “Sorry, love, but you’ve  _ definitely _ been grounded.”

* * *

Pansy stood in front of her father as the man processed the news. 

“Did you hear anything else?”

“No,” she shrugged. “But it’s odd, isn’t it? If he’s so loyal to the Dark Lord, why is he protecting someone the Dark Lord wants?”

“We cannot say for sure that he is protecting her,” Elias Parkinson raised an eyebrow. “We know that Snape and Regulus Black were close friends, and it is obvious that Black cares a great deal for her. We all knew he cared far more for her than the Dark Lord the second she was born. I remember the meeting when the Dark Lord told us to watch him. It is why Dolohov was sent in to watch her that night - to weaken her physically and mentally. It is likely that Black asked Snape to Vow to protect her if he could not. That would form the guardian bond. The question now is why she listened to him.”

“They’re obviously working together against the Dark Lord,” Pansy said impatiently. 

“I will inform the Dark Lord of what you’ve found,” her father told her. “You’ve done well, but keep this to yourself.”

“Yes, father."

* * *


	23. Twin Bond

**October 20th, 1996**

**Great Hall**

Cassiopeia made a face as she entered the Great Hall and saw all of the candelabras and wax catchers sitting on the tables. There was a small group of various students sitting on the table near the doors, waiting for Slughorn, who was hosting detention for them that night. Most of her detentions were, thankfully, spent alone, but as Snape was on the Board of Potioneers for the entirety of Europe, he had monthly meetings that meant leaving the castle. 

“Ah, there we are,” Slughorn said, startling Cassiopeia. “Bit late, but that’s alright. Work on these until they’re all finished or it’s midnight, alright? Come to me or Miss Black for hall passes when you’re finished.”

“Sir, I can’t give a pass,” she blinked at him. “I have detention.”

“Ah, yes, but they don’t know that,” he said with a small laugh that made her roll her eyes. “Use your wands - it’ll go faster!” 

As he walked away, Cassiopeia decided he definitely did not care about giving students detention and moved to the very end of the hall, away from the other students and began to work on the golden candelabras and wax catchers they were cleaning. As Snape had told her to do, she kept her wand away and began working wandlessly only. It was like a muscle, Snape said. The more she used the wandless magic, the easier it would be. 

She cast the spell and breathed out in relief when it didn’t feel like a huge power drain. Instead, she watched in satisfaction as the thing was cleaned and shined, and she tossed it in the air to meet the candle, which wasn’t lit and waiting to be met. As soon as the wax catcher met it, she lit it up and moved onto the next one. 

It was nearly ten when she threw another wax catcher into the air and then lit the candle that it met. With her table completely empty, she looked over to see the six other students still working on a single table. Annoyed, she moved over there to help them, concerned they didn’t know the correct spells. They were between fifth and seventh years, and she didn’t recognize any of them, though she did notice their Slytherin ties. 

“You don’t have to do it by hand,” she told them as she approached. They looked up at her, and she felt her gut twist. The way they looked at her made her uncomfortable, and she felt the intense urge to put up a shield. “It’ll go a lot faster if you don’t, and we can all get out of here quicker.” 

“Go back to staying as far away from us as possible,” one of them, a girl with blonde hair in a braid, told her. She raised an eyebrow. 

“Considering we’ve never met, I find it interesting that you have a problem with me.”

“We have a problem with a dirty blood traitor like you trying to steal the House of Black,” one of the boys spat at her. She stilled, keeping all of her reaction internal, unwilling to give them the satisfaction of reacting. “You’re basically a mudblood, you know.”

“So you’ll admit that your problem with muggleborns isn’t that you think they’ve got mud in their veins but rather that they just didn’t grow up in this world,” she questioned, tilting her head at them. “Which is a bit odd, if you think about it, because people can be taught. The issue is just that no one puts any effort into actually helping to teach muggleborn students. My brother and I were only given help because we happened to befriend Theo and Blaise. Without them, we probably wouldn’t have known half as much as we did."

“You don’t know our culture,” one of them reasoned angrily. “You didn’t grow up the way we did, and you just get to come in and someday inherit the most powerful House in our world? That’s bullshit.”

“Oh, so you’d rather it go to Draco?”

“Well-,”

“Because he’s the next male heir, being Narcissa’s son. Is that part of your problem, that I’m not male?”

“Yes,” someone agreed sharply. “You’re weak and uninformed and don’t hold the true ideals of the Black House-,”

“Oh, fuck off,” she laughed at them. “The old ideals of  _ my _ House drove us into the ground. Disowning anybody that disagrees with you is preposterous. We’re lucky that Arcturus was too damn lazy to officially disown my brother or we’d be gone. Actually, that’s not true. Would you rather Regulus be heir or Lord?”

“Yes, obviously! He was even a Death Eater.”

“Even though he openly defied Voldemort - don’t fucking raise your wand at me, asshole - and dedicated his life to his sister, to me, to his family? Even though he never wanted to join Voldemort to begin with?” She shook her head. “Look, I get it. Each House has their own expectations with it, but fuck, guys, shit changes. My House is being restored by my brothers and I and you, not being members of my House, cannot do a single thing to change that.”

“ _ Confrigo _ !” 

Cassiopeia gasped and threw up a shield just in time, watching as it absorbed the dangerous curse. She took a few steps back as the person that threw the curse got to his feet and raised his wand again, everyone else just watching. 

“ _ Defodio _ !” 

The shield absorbed that one, and she let out a slow, pained breath at how much energy it was taking to hold it. Still, she lifted her other hand and cast silently, first  _ Avis _ and then  _ Oppugno _ . The birds flew at him and she saw one hit its target, slamming into his arm, while the others hit the table behind him and disappeared in a fit of blue feathers. He turned back to her and when she went to switch hands that held the shield, he took advantage of the time without it and hit her with an overpowered  _ Defodio _ . She let out a scream as it hit from her hip down to mid-thigh. It took all of her effort to hold the shield that she now had up again. 

“Come on,” she heard someone say. “That was a loud scream, we have to get out of here.”

“Hurry up,” someone spat as they ran out of the hall. “With any luck, she’ll die and we’ll have hope for the Black House again.”

As soon as the voices faded away, Cassiopeia let the shield drop and hissed in pain, lifting her head up with great effort to look down at her freely bleeding leg. The sight made her a little sick and she saw her bond mark glowing brightly. The glamour on her bond mark with Regulus had fallen, likely because of how injured she was. 

She pulled on that string of magic that belonged to both of her brothers and used that to fuel a patronus. “To… ah, fuck… to Harry? Ah… I’m in the Great Hall, I need… help…”

She watched as the patronus, sensing she was finished, swam out of the room with a greater speed than usual. She continued to pull on the string of magic from her brothers, this time just to keep her awake. She knew she was losing a lot of blood because of the large size of the injury, but she had no choice to heal it herself, so she just tore off a part of her robes and tied it around her leg as high as she could. 

By the time the doors opened again, she was finding it harder and harder to stay awake, regardless of the extra magic she had. Both of her bond marks were glowing then, and the one with both of her brothers had been as soon as she’d pulled on their magic to help her. 

“Cassie!” 

She turned her head in confusion, blinking slowly as she tried to understand. “Sirius…?”

“Oh, shit,” Harry said, running in behind his godfather and catching a glance at her. She breathed in and out slowly as Regulus followed them in, and all three came to a stop in front of her, though Sirius kneeled down and got to work. 

“Kitten, I need you to stay awake for me,” he requested gently, though she heard the urgency in his voice. Her tired, dizzy mind was confused, but she tried to do as he asked. “What were you hit with? Cas, I need to know if this is dark magic.”

“I don’t…” she frowned, trying to remember. “Gouging hex…”

“Okay,” he breathed out in relief, putting a stasis spell on her leg to stop the blood flowing out of it. “Harry, I need you to send Snape a Patronus and get him here. Tell him to bring a blood replenisher and- fuck, I don’t know. Tell him what happened.”

Harry nodded and ran out of the hall to do as he was asked, likely going to the potions room to be able to meet the man there. Regulus sat down on the bench next to Cassiopeia and grabbed her hand gently. 

“Sirius, her core is almost completely drained,” he said after a minute, putting away his wand that she hadn’t seen waving over her. “We’re the only thing keeping her…”

“Yeah, thanks,” Sirius muttered sharply. “There’s a fuck ton of blood, Reg, I can tell it’s bad. Kitten, do you know how long ago you were hit?”

She frowned at him, taking much too long to process the question. “Fifteen… twenty? My head hurts…”

“It’s okay,” Regulus assured her gently. “Tell me what you’re doing down here so late, Cas.”

That, she remembered clearly enough to tell him. “Confounded McLaggen… Snape gave me… two months…”

“Bloody maniac,” Sirius muttered as he reapplied the stasis charm, which kept falling, unable to hold her leg together very long. With that done, he raised his wand and waved it. “ _ Expecto Patronum _ ! To Poppy Pomfrey. Cassiopeia is bleeding very badly and has been for possibly twenty minutes. Her core is nearly empty. Snape is coming but I can’t hold her together for long.”

The grim ran off quickly and he turned back to his sister, pressing his hand down on her bloody leg to try and slow the bleeding the muggle way. “You’re gonna be okay. You know who did this?”

“‘M tired,” she muttered, letting her head roll back onto Regulus’s arm. “So tired.”

“I know, but you gotta stay awake,” he reminded her desperately. “Come on, Cassiopeia. Shit.” 

“Get out of the way,” Snape snapped as he moved over to them, a bag in his arms. He got to his knees, not minding the blood as it soaked into his robes. He pulled out multiple potions and handed them off to Regulus, who took on the hard job of trying to get her to drink them. When that didn’t work, he grabbed his wand and spelled them inside her, something to only be done in emergencies. Snape, meanwhile, was focused on stopping the bleeding. He gave Sirius a better tourniquet than her robes and began holding his wand over the leg, healing it slowly, barely moving his wand as he tried to be as precise as possible. 

“Oh, oh, oh,” Pomfrey gasped, rushing over to them. 

“Poppy, good,” Snape muttered without looking up. “Her core is drained, we need assistance.” 

“That is only for the most severe cases, Severus-,”

“This  _ is _ a severe case,” the man snapped at her. “She has only lived so long because of her bond to her brothers, and she’s quickly draining them. She must stop pulling on their bond.” 

“Does she even have a soulmate?”

“I do not know, but she has something better,” Snape replied, looking over to Regulus, who frowned in confusion. 

“What?”

“Your fealty bond allows you certain advantages that mirror that of a twin bond, one of which is that your magic will not be drained by her but can replace what she’s missing without killing you. Have you sealed this?”

“I was not sure if, after everything, she would be open to it.”

Snape, more than anyone, understood that. Still, it was an emergency. “You must now.”

“That could cause terrible damage to her mind,” he denied sharply. 

“I will work with her tomorrow,” Snape scowled. “It is either this or her life. It is your choice, Regulus.”

He stared at his old friend in frustration.  _ Of course _ he’d never let her die, but he’d be hurting her. Again. The one thing he swore he’d never do. Still, he forced himself to set those thoughts aside and leaned a little closer, wincing at the position they were in. She was so limp and covered in blood. Snape was still kneeling on the floor with Pomfrey on the other side of him while Sirius had gotten to his feet and stood behind Snape. Regulus himself was sitting next to Cassiopeia, her head fallen against him when she finally passed out. “She’s unconscious.”

“It will be easier,” Snape told him. “You may see things, and they will likely be whatever you do not wish to see, but you must focus. Once the memories are over, push out of them until you find her magic.”

“Her magic?”

“Her core.”

Regulus cursed under his breath and nodded once, gently rolling her head to the side and opened her eyes for her, making eye contact. 

“ _ Legilimens _ !” 

_ Belle was three years old and sat in her locked bedroom, coughing and crying. She’d been sick for a week already and hadn’t left her bedroom the entire time. She wasn’t sure why she was stuck there. She wasn’t sure what she’d done, and she just wanted to be with Harry.  _

_ The door slammed open, and she let out a startled yelp, pulling her blanket farther over herself as Vernon fell into the dresser, a bottle of something she didn’t know in his hand. He smelled weird, and she whimpered quietly as he waved the bottle at her.  _

_ “Shut the fuck up, kid!”  _

_ “I don’t feel good,” she cried to him. To her surprise, he hit her across the face with the glass bottle, which then fell to the floor and broke. Her hand flew up to her face and she felt her lip quiver. She didn’t understand what had happened. He’d… hurt her. He’d never done that before. “Uncle Vernon, please-,” _

_ “I’m sick and tired of your whining,” he told her, taking a step closer. She scooted back on her bed, but her back hit the headboard and she stopped. He reached out and she felt his hand wrap around her neck, squeezing so tight she couldn’t breathe. She hit at his arms and hands but her tiny self did no damage, nor did it convince him to let her go, and she felt herself fade into unconsciousness.  _

Oo

_ Cassiopeia slammed her book shut and rubbed at her temples. “Okay, that’s it, Harry. I’m done for the night. You’ll be fine. You have the gillyweed, so just chill. You need to get some sleep or you’ll be miserable tomorrow.” _

_ “Are you sure that-,” _

_ “I’m certain,” she snapped before pausing. “Seriously, you’ll be fine. I promise.”  _

_ “‘Kay. Night, Cassie.” _

_ “Night,” she muttered, getting up to put away the books. By the time she was finished, he’d already left, much to her relief. It was dark enough in the corridors and she kept her wand out for light as she walked through them. She had to get back in time or Daphne was liable to have a fit.  _

_ She slipped down to the dungeons and went into a bathroom to wash her hands, the feeling of the gillyweed Neville had handed her after examining still making her skin crawl. After she’d scrubbed them no less than four times, she dried them off with her wand and left, turning to the left.  _

_ “ _ Stupefy _!”  _

_ Cassiopeia’s gut churned as she fell to the ground, unable to move. She knew that smug voice, and she’d tried so hard to forget it. She itched to scream for help, but before she could, he silenced her and moved over her _

_ “You didn’t think I was done with you, did you?” _

_ She closed her eyes when she felt him rip at her shirt, taking it off of her. Her heart raced as he moved and she wanted nothing more than to be anywhere else.  _

_ The first thing she did when she was free again was turn and throw up twice before she managed to get to her feet and fix the tears in her clothes. After that, she went to the bathroom and cleaned herself up to the best of her ability, casting the spell she knew she’d need.  _

_ She stopped short in front of the mirror. Her black hair was matted and limp, and she saw tear marks down her cheeks. Aware she might run into someone on her way to see Snape, she took the time to carefully fix her hair and then rinsed off her face. When she was somewhat satisfied with herself, she rushed out and around a few corners before she literally slammed into the man she was looking for. She stumbled back, her eyes wide and her voice stuck in her throat as she tried to find the words to tell him what had happened.  _

_ “Black, good,” he said. “Come with me. You’ve been summoned for the second task.” _

_ “But sir-," _

_ “You will not be in any danger, do not worry,” he continued as he began walking down the hall, expecting her to follow, which she did. “But I am in a hurry, so keep up. We’ll be going to Dumbledore’s office.” _

_ She felt her words slip away from her. She didn’t have the strength to fight for his attention, maybe to fight anything, so she just did as he asked and followed him to Dumbledore’s office, where they explained what would happen, and she was sent into the lake for the next morning. _

Oo

_ Cassiopeia sat quietly with Theo on the bed. The Room of Requirement was empty aside from the two of them after Blaise left to Quidditch practice, and her friend held her as she shook, crying softly.  _

_ “Why won’t you stop? You’re so scared.” _

_ “I can’t,” she whispered, swiping furiously at her tears. “I love Harry. He’s my brother, and he needs to be safe. If it wasn’t me, it would be him. We all know that, Theo. Not to mention the whole Remus thing. I just… after the Veritaserum…” _

_ “What is it?” he whispered, stroking her hand with his thumb.  _

_ “I don’t know… it’s nothing.” _

_ “Hey,” he looked at her. “You can tell me anything. Don’t stop now.”  _

_ “I don’t know how to… it feels like a breaking point,” she admitted softly. “This part of me, this scary large part of me just wants to… give up and let her kill me. The Veritaserum, I just realized…. I don’t know. I know I can’t, I know I shouldn’t want to die and I know I have to stay for no other reason than Harry and Sirius, but…” _

_ “It’s okay,” he told her in a shaky whisper, pulling her closer. “Barely anyone knows about the Room of Requirement so we can stay here for a few days. You don’t have to face the world yet.”  _

_ “I’m scared of being  _ in _ the world,” she replied softly. _

Oo

_ Cassiopeia laid on the floor, unable to move or speak. Everything was fuzzy, and she felt tears roll down her cheeks. She hated herself just a little bit for letting herself go through this again. She’d thought that maybe after Umbridge, she’d be done. It was a foolish wish, she knew, considering the upcoming war, but she couldn’t help but wish for her own safety.  _

_ And Regulus’s. She didn’t avoid his gaze while he cast, but not for the purpose of making him feel guilty. She wanted to see him because she knew there was a true possibility that she wouldn’t make it out of this. And if Dolohov came back again, she didn’t think she wanted to.  _

_ Her mind drifted to Snape as Regulus cast again and while she seized up in pain, she couldn’t help but feel bad. Snape had worked so hard to help her. Maybe if she’d gone over the memories from third and fourth year then… as illogical as it was, she wondered if it would’ve happened again with Dolohov. Maybe Sirius would wish she’d been brave, too.  _

Oo

_ Regulus felt himself suck in a sharp breath for the first time in what felt like an eternity. His thoughts and emotions were a flurry but one thing he knew he felt after seeing all of that was horror.  _

_ “Stop it.” _

_ He looked up in shock to see Cassiopeia frowning at him. “Are you-,” _

_ “I don’t fucking know,” she told him with a shrug. “I was… I don’t know, passing out, and then I came here, which is a shitty fucking place to put me.” _

_ Regulus looked around and suddenly he could see Malfoy Manor around them, specifically the room in which he’d tortured her. He winced. “Do you know what’s happening?” _

_ “I’m dying.” _

_ She said it with so little care that he felt his breath pulled from him, thinking back to how she’d told Theo she wanted to be dead.  _

_ “Seriously, Regulus, fucking stop it,” she snapped. He looked at her in surprise.  _

_ “What?”  _

_ “I didn’t mean for you to see those memories, okay? I had no control over that. I haven’t exactly shown Snape any of that, either,” she explained. “What are you doing in my head?” _

_ “Our vows, our bond, it’s like a twin bond-,” _

_ “I know,” she nodded. “Daphne told me.” _

_ “Confirming that bond will help refill your core without taking mine and Sirius’s magic. It’s sort of like… we have our own separate cores and then another one that we share that either of us can take magic from. We need to do that.”  _

_ Cassiopeia was quiet for a long moment. “I really didn’t want you to see… that.”  _

_ Regulus took a moment to figure out how to respond. “Severus told me he suggested you let me put shields on them.”  _

_ “Snape needs to mind his own damn business.” _

_ “I have done it before,” he told her quietly. “I can help you, Cassiopeia. He was right when he told you that shielding everything but those memories will make them stand out more.” _

_ “I don’t want anyone to see me like that,” she admitted softly. “Now both of you have.” _

_ “I can only offer to help,” he said softly. “But I would not offer if I did not mean it. It would likely take a few sessions, but once it is over, it will be much better.”  _

_ Cassiopeia looked around, and he felt her set the topic aside, something that surprised him. Her lips twitched. “I can feel that, too. It’s weird.”  _

_ “It’s part of a twin bond. Thoughts, feelings, they’re all shared up to a certain distance.” _

_ “How far?” _

_ “It depends on the pair. We will not be certain until we test it. The farther away you are, the fewer things you can feel or hear. I imagine if you are, say, at Hogwarts and I am anyway farther than the extent of the wards, we will only be able to call for one another, and it will take a bit of effort. I couldn’t say if there were no wards involved.” _

_ Cassiopeia fell silent for a moment, looking at him with what he felt as admiration, surprising him once more. “I hope you know I don’t regret finding you.”  _

_ The truth of her statement shocked him. “You-,” _

_ “I don’t,” she told him firmly.  _

_ Instead of responding to that, he looked around. “How do you feel?” _

_ “Pretty okay, why do-,” _

Regulus let out a gasp and gripped his head as it throbbed in pain. Rather, his mind hurt terribly, and he hissed in pain as that doubled.

“Cassie!” Sirius exclaimed. Regulus turned to see her awake, blinking as it came back to her. Testing the bond, he sent her mental images of everything he’d seen since arriving in the castle and she paused. 

“Ah, shit, I remember,” she hissed. Harry had returned, to Regulus’s surprise, and was sitting on her other side. “The assholes I was in detention with tried to tell me I was fucking up the House of Black and when I tried to  _ politely _ -,” Regulus, for one, felt her lie more than heard it. “Tell them that they were wrong and to  _ politely _ fuck off, one of them started dueling me. I wanted to hold them off without my wand, but he managed to get me and it was awful, so my magic went to the injury to start healing it and then I was exhausted, so I pulled on your guys’ magic to send… Harry? I think it was Harry, a patronus.”

“Should she be this… awake?” Sirius asked Snape, who nodded shortly. 

“She is a powerful witch and Regulus is a powerful wizard. It is not surprising that their combined magical core would be large enough to heal her that much.”

“My mind fucking hurts,” she said, making a face. “I do  _ not _ suggest it, it isn’t a fun experience.”

“Now that she is well enough to spew profanities,” Snape rolled his eyes, getting to his feet. “I suggest we get her into the infirmary.”

_ I’m going to hex him someday, I swear to every god that exists. _

Regulus let out a short laugh and paused when everyone looked at him. “Yes, we should get her there.”

“Oh,” Sirius groaned, making a face. “That’s going to be so fucking annoying.”

* * *

**October 21st, 1996**

**Great Hall**

“Can he… do that?” Astoria questioned, blinking at her friends, who exchanged a glance.

“He sort of did the same thing when he assigned her detentions in the first place,” Theo replied. “Magic obviously accepts him as her guardian and therefore expects him to take care of her, which means that he can do whatever he wants as long as he genuinely believes it’s in her best interest.”

“And I agree that it is,” Daphne added. “She might be pouting but she’s still injured and will be for a couple of weeks, and until we can find whoever hurt her, she needs to stay with as many people as possible and out of the public eye.”

“I’m guessing that’s why Ginny was upstairs,” Astoria assumed. Blaise nodded at her. 

“Your sister snuck Ginny into Slytherin because she threatened to  _ bombarda _ the castle until she found us,” he explained with a small smile. 

“That witch is a menace,” Draco muttered, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend, who smiled softly at the affectionate action. 

“If I could have all of your attention.”

The friends looked up in surprise at Snape, who was glaring out at the students in front of him as they, grudgingly, did as he asked. 

“What’s he doing?” Daphne whispered, not bothering to look at her friends.

“I don’t know, but he looks  _ pissed _ ,” Astoria told her sister. “This should be good.”

“Until further notice, curfew has moved for years five through seven from midnight to ten. If you are found by anyone after ten, you will be given an in-school suspension. As for my Slytherin students, there is to be a meeting in the common room immediately following dinner. Anyone missing with also be given an in-school suspension. That is all.”

The friends looked at each other. 

“How bad did Cas actually scare him?” Blaise asked softly. She’d told all of them what had happened that morning, explaining that she’d been attacked during detention and that it would take her time to recover, but that she was fine. Suddenly, they all thought that she was likely lying.

* * *

“I will make this short. If I catch any of you attacking any student in your own House, you will be expelled immediately. There are no exceptions. We, as a House, have a reputation to uphold that is slipping from our grasp. Do not let your politics or your temper guide your actions in this school or you will greatly regret it.”

With that, Snape looked over every student before nodding once and leaving the common room, letting the students wonder over his words. Cassiopeia’s friends, however, made their way to the boys’ dorm where she’d set up to wait for them to come back.

“What the fuck, Black?”

She looked up in surprise from Blaise’s bed where Ginny sat with her. “ _ What _ ?”

“Snape just changed the curfew for the entire upper years and called a house meeting to tell everyone that if they attack anyone in Slytherin, they’d be expelled,” Blaise explained because Draco was angrier than the rest of them and had begun pacing. “What happened, Cas? You said it wasn’t that bad but Snape is  _ pissed _ .”

She hesitated, looking between all of her friends. “Okay. Okay, fine. It was really bad. There was a lot of blood loss and I basically emptied my entire core. I’d have died if I didn’t have the bond with my brothers. I had to seal the twin bond with Regulus because it gave both of us like an extra, shared core. I was draining their magic and I could’ve killed us all.”

“Fuck,” Theo whispered. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Daphne wondered, coming to sit on the bed and rub her arm gently. 

“I’m fine now and I’m so tired of almost dying and worrying everyone,” she explained. “This is also… I think this is the closest I’ve ever been to actually dying because my core was drained and my body was… not doing well. It’s just hard to process. I’d be dead without my brothers.”

“You still haven’t told us why you were attacked,” Blaise reminded her. She made a face. 

“It was fucking stupid. The people that attacked me, they told me I didn’t belong to the House of Black despite being a pureblood because I wasn’t raised as a pureblood. I tried to get them to see that their logic was ridiculous but I was losing patience and they attacked. I left my wand here because I’m trying to use wandless magic for… basically everything without it draining my core, but I used spells I’ve never cast without a wand before and so it drained me quick. He hit me with a  _ defodio _ and they left with the comment that hopefully I’d die and my House could get a worthy heir, despite literally all of us being blood traitors.”

“Merlin.”

“Yeah, it really pissed me off. Oh. I was sort of unconscious when we sealed the bond so-,”

Both Daphne and Astoria gasped, interrupting her.

“Fuck, Cas, that’s illegal,” Astoria told her sharply. She looked between them and remembered the reason she hadn’t told them about Dumbledore, Snape, and Voldemort pushing into her mind. 

“It was necessary. He saw some things I’d rather he hadn’t seen, but I don’t regret it,” she told them with a deep frown. “Is it really that big of a deal?” 

“It’s so illegal that you could probably take a high ranking Death Eater that had done it, put him in front of a jury of Death Eaters, and he’d still be sent to Azkaban for the rest of his life or Kissed right there,” Theo told her gently. “It can scar a mind, badly damage it.”

“He’s right,” Ginny agreed quietly. “My uncles had that happen to them before they died. Mum said it was awful.”

Cassiopeia looked at them, her mouth open a little bit. “My mind is scarred?”

“It’s possible Regulus was careful enough that it isn’t,” Daphne replied.

“He’s so careful with her, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have been,” Harry spoke up, noting his sister’s nerves. “I was there. He looked stressed but he was also holding her very carefully so I imagine that’s how it was in her mind, too.”

“But if someone else did, or a few other people who didn’t care did it, then-,”

“Crabbe and Goyle?” Draco asked sharply. Cassiopeia tensed and shook her head jerkily. 

“Answer my question.”

“Yes. Yes, it’s likely they scarred your mind,” he snapped at her before wincing. “Sorry.” 

“Shit,” she whispered. She understood then why Snape and Regulus had been so hesitant over her going back to Occlumency with Snape because if she’d known how big of a deal it was, she might’ve been as worried as they were. 

“Cas, who did that?” Blaise asked her with a frown. She looked around at her friends and hesitated. 

“Dumbledore,” Harry remembered, sighing heavily. “I can’t believe we didn’t tell Amelia. He’d never be able to join the ministry again.”

“Which doesn’t even matter now,” Cassiopeia pointed out. “Since he’s dying.”

“Who else?” Theo wondered in worry. 

“Voldemort,” she said slowly, glad to see none of her friends react. “I don’t think I want to tell you who else.”

“Why?” Astoria asked her with her eyes narrowed. “We’re Slytherins, Cassiopeia. Well, most of us. You can tell us.”

“Okay, but you have to understand the situation first,” she looked between them before her eyes fell on Theo, who she always trusted to be calm for her. Even Harry was far too reactive. “First of all, I didn’t know how serious it was. But when I was in the past, I went to Snape because I knew he was friends with Regulus, but he was… a very different person. He pushed into my mind and looked at it. His mind felt… angrier, more spiteful, like he didn’t care for anything or anyone. I still trust him and-,”

“ _ How _ ?” Draco snapped at her so loudly that she flinched. “Shit, Black, that’s  _ bad _ . You still let him touch your mind?” 

“Because he would _ never _ do that knowing who I am,” she explained sharply. “I don’t even think he would’ve if he knew I was Regulus’s sister back then.”

“Fuck,” Blaise whispered, turning around to pace, his fingers weaving into his hair in frustration. Theo looked furious too, but she could only tell from their six years of friendship. She frowned at her friends, confused.

“I don’t understand. It isn’t that big of a deal.”

“No, you just don’t understand that it is,” Draco corrected her angrily. “You grew up a fucking muggle. You don’t understand how important the mind is. It holds all of your knowledge, every intimate moment you’ve had, every bit of anger you’ve ever felt, all things precious and sacred to you. The reason purebloods are taught Occlumency at a young age is that we’re aware of how fucking horrifying it is to have someone enter your mind without permission, Cassiopeia. You’re like a young child who doesn’t understand the meaning of consent and-,”

“Oh, fuck off,” she snapped at him angrily. “I understand consent better than you’d think, Draco. But I’m aware that he regrets it deeply and would never do it again, so-,”

“But you don’t understand!” He yelled back at her.

“Mate, drop it,” Blaise told his friend, who ignored him. 

“I don’t even know what the muggle equivalent of it would be because muggles can’t violate you so deeply or scar your mind in such a permanent, traumatic way-,”

Cassiopeia let out a loud, humorless laugh. “Rape, Draco. You’re talking about rape.”

“Yes! Fine, yes. It’s like that.”

“Draco,  _ stop _ ,” Blaise hissed, putting a hand on his shoulder. He received a glare from his friend and a rather worrying emotionless look from his girlfriend. “Cas-,”

“No, it’s okay, Blaise,” she assured him, sounding and looking very much not okay. “I’d like to hear what exactly he thinks can be more traumatic than that.”

“Because he can see your mind without your permission! Touch it, change things, destroy things!” Draco tried. She stared at him. 

“Touching my body without permission is, to me, much more violating,” she replied. “Forcing me to do sexual things  _ feels _ like being destroyed. My mind hurts, but I don’t want to get rid of it. It doesn’t make me want to take six showers and still never feel better, Draco. It doesn’t make me feel unclean, weak, unworthy of anything good.”

“Oh,” Theo gasped, his eyes widening as he looked between the emotionless smile on her face and the desperate worry on Blaise’s. “Draco, seriously, stop.”

“You don’t understand,” Draco yelled, frustrated. She let out a short laugh. 

“I understand that one makes me want to die and the other, while awful, does not.”

“Wait, you don’t mean-,”

“Stop treating me like a child,” she told him, grabbing onto Astoria to help her to her feet. “I don’t tell you everything, Draco. You have no clue what I consider to be the worst moments of my life, but it sure as hell isn’t when Snape entered my mind. That’s not even a top ten traumatic moment to me.”

“You never said-,”

“And I never intended to,” she agreed. “Because you didn’t need to know. No one did, but you’re a fucking asshole.” 

“Shit.”

While Ginny ran ahead of them to get out of the way, Cassiopeia grabbed onto Astoria and Daphne and let them help her out of the room where they then took her to their dorm.

When they were gone, the door slammed shut, the silence that was left behind making Draco extremely uncomfortable. 

“Why can’t you listen to us?” Theo asked him after a long minute. “You finally did it, Draco. Your desperate need to be right finally fucked something up. Good luck fixing that.”

Draco looked between his two friends, unsure of what to do. “I didn’t know.”

“Neither did I,” Theo snapped. “But it isn’t like she made it that hard to figure out.”

“Suggestion,” Blaise whispered stiffly as he moved to the door. “Don’t try comparing traumatic experiences in front of Cassiopeia. Merlin knows she’s had a lot of them.”

The words weren’t sharp, but the way he said them and the way he slammed the door behind himself was. 

* * *

**October 24th, 1996**

**Slytherin Common Room**

Cassiopeia sat with her leg propped up on the table. Everyone was in class for the day and she’d been feeling rather suffocated up in her room, so she snuck down to hang out until kids started filtering back in. 

She hadn’t left Slytherin much since she’d been taken back there from the Infirmary, and while she was getting restless, she was okay with that. Facing large groups of people again made her nervous. She wanted to go back, but she kept finding herself paranoid, expecting to be attacked again. 

Her mind drifted back to the day after the attack, as it had multiple times since then. She had overreacted, she knew, and in doing so, she’d revealed one of the most traumatic parts of her life to almost all of her friends  _ and _ her brother. Luckily, no one had brought it up. Once getting to her dorm, Astoria, Daphne, and Ginny had started talking about homework and they’d helped her calm down greatly with the distraction and lack of questions. Part of her thought Daphne and Astoria had already known, but if they had, they didn’t say anything.

Harry had come to her and just sat with her and she knew it was his way of making sure she was actually okay. She appreciated his quiet comfort, and it had done a lot to help her calm down. He’d skipped his first class of the morning the day after the argument to be with her and she’d forced him to go to the rest of his classes after that. 

She felt somewhat bad for reacting the way she had, but she also knew some of the fault certainly fell on Draco. Her cousin was far too reactive, and he needed to get his temper in check. She’d considered writing Narcissa or even Sirius, but she didn’t want to get him in trouble with either of them. She just wanted someone to be aware of his temper problem or even just give her advice, because she definitely didn’t know what to do. Her need to talk and let out some of the anxieties led her to tugging on the bond with Regulus. 

_ I need to talk to someone and… I need to talk to you. _

She waited for a second, relieved when he answered her. 

_ If there is no one there, I can come see you. _

_ Yeah, I’m alone. I’m in the Slytherin common room. _

There was no response and she sat back, closing her eyes as her head fell against the couch she sat on. With her wand in its holster, she wiggled it a little, comforted by the wood against her arm. She had the wand James had given her strapped to her thigh. She’d tried to send it back to Sirius, but Harry and Sirius had heavily disagreed, so she’d bought a holster for her thigh and left it there ever since the attack. Both holsters had anti-expelliarmus charms on them, and she hoped it would be enough to protect her. 

The fire roared to life and she blinked her eyes open as Regulus walked over to her, a small frown on his face. 

“Don’t frown at me,” she requested. “Everyone is frowning at me.”

“Something happened,” he told her, sitting next to her.

“Draco,” she sighed. “We had this fight in front of all of our friends and Harry. He was trying to get me to understand why Dumbledore and Snape and Voldemort entering my mind against my will was so bad and he said something fucking dumb.”

Regulus paused before he winced, following her silent train of thought. “Are you okay?”

“My friends have been really good about it,” she shrugged lightly, dropping her head on his shoulder. “They haven’t really said much. Harry’s being good, too, which I didn’t really expect if I’m being honest. But I haven’t talked to Draco since then. I’m not… I reacted quite strongly but it was definitely his fault, too. I guess I just want to know if he’s okay, or at least… sorry.”

“As I said about father’s letters, you will not know until you speak with him.”

She made a face at him and he laughed softly. 

“You are aware that you’re seventeen and you’re still acting like a child.”

“You’re acting like a child.”

“You are as mature as Sirius.”

Cassiopeia gasped, leaning back to stare at him. “Take that back.”

“Begin acting like an adult.”

She let out a small huff and crossed her arms. “Sirius is leading the House and he still acts like a child.”

“I believe that is because he has us to help him,” Regulus pointed out with a smile. She returned it. 

“The day of my eleventh birthday, I never imagined I’d… be here. With two more brothers, and cousins, and friends that love me so much. I never imagined my life could be so  _ good _ . I didn’t think I’d ever get away from the Dursleys or find people I love so much.” 

“Our family wouldn’t be where it is without you, Cas,” he told her with a small smile. “I’d be dead. Sirius might be, too. Cissa would be with Lucius still and Draco might be a Death Eater.”

She hummed and leaned against him again, grateful for his calm presence. So much of her missed being with her brothers, and while she thought it was partly because of their bond, she also knew she just missed being with them. She felt wasted at school when she could help them plan and run the family, and it made her especially nervous being apart from them when all three of them were wanted by Voldemort. 

“We’ll be okay,” he told her gently, startling her. How loud had she been thinking? “Rather loudly.”

“That’s weird.”

“I mean it. We’ll be okay. We’re leaving as little as possible and when we do leave, it’s either to somewhere we know is safe or somewhere we’ve got someone to protect us. You’re less safe than we are.”

“I’d say I should just come home, but I need to look out for my friends and help teach the younger kids how to protect themselves,” she sighed. “I’m just tired of being hurt, Reg.”

“I know,” he said softly. “I’m tired of you being hurt, too.”

* * *

“Draco,” Cassiopeia called before he could walk past her. He paused and looked over and she offered him a small smile. “Can we talk?”

“Yeah,” he agreed, moving back over to Blaise’s bed where she’d spent her entire afternoon, the rest of the room empty. 

“I’m sorry,” she told him, wanting to get it over with. “It’s a sore spot and I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”

“I… shouldn’t have pushed so hard,” he admitted slowly. “And I won’t ask about it but… are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. 

“Was it-,”

“Do you really want to know?”

He paused. “I’m worried for you.”

“Dolohov,” she answered because they went to school with Crabbe and Goyle and he didn’t need to be expelled for attacking them. 

“Shit,” he whispered, running his fingers through his hair. “In the past?”

“Yeah.”

“He won’t get to you again,” he promised her. She offered him a small smile, though she didn’t really believe him.

“So we’re okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

* * *


	24. Secondhand Wands

**October 31st, 1996**

**Slytherin Common Room**

“I’m gonna throw a teacup at your head,” Cassiopeia muttered lazily as her friend - she wasn’t sure which one as she hadn’t bothered to open her eyes - tried to readjust her pillow for her. “Seriously, it doesn’t even hurt anymore. Madame Pomfrey just said something about the elevation helping to rid me of the potion they spelled into me. It just takes time when it’s given that way. It should be gone in a few days.”

“Which, again, is dangerous,” Draco reminded her as if she’d forgotten.

“Okay, you fucking split your leg open and bleed openly for twenty minutes before anyone gets there and then see if you still care.”

“Have you really not run into them again?” Astoria asked her, her head in Cassiopeia’s lap since her sister wasn’t there. Cassiopeia shrugged. 

“I’d never seen them before then. They were definitely Slytherin and between fifth and seventh years but I have no clue who they were.”

“I have an idea,” Harry said slowly, a frown on his face. “What if they were polyjuiced?”

“Oh,” Cassiopeia breathed. 

“We should probably tell Sirius and-,”

“Oh! Let me try,” she grinned, eyes still closed. She tugged lightly at her bond with Regulus and focused on his mind. 

_ Harry thinks the kids that attacked me were actually just polyjuiced. Not good news, but an idea. _

There was a pause and she almost wondered if he wasn’t going to reply. 

_ Sirius thinks the same thing. Don’t go anywhere alone. Make sure you don’t get any detentions from anyone but Severus.” _

_ His detentions are the worst of them, though. _

_ Cassiopeia. _

_ Yeah, I know. _

She opened her eyes to find her friends all staring at her. “What?”

“You were making a bunch of faces,” Astoria laughed, leaning back down to relax. “I’m impressed. Bonds strong enough to communicate that far are rare.”

“Yeah, but we’re a rare set of siblings,” Cassiopeia shrugged, throwing her head back. “When do you think Snape’ll let me take off this wrap?”

Theo looked at the wrap in question and pulled it tighter around her thigh, making her wince. “Sorry, Cas. It has to stay tight or it’ll take longer.”

“Better question,” Blaise said as he walked up from his dorm. “When do you think he’ll let you leave the castle again? I want to take you on a date.”

“Luckily he’s more pissed with himself than me for getting hurt,” she told her boyfriend as he kissed her cheek and settled in across from her, the couch full of her, Astoria - who was laying down - and Theo. “So I assume he’ll let me leave when I’m fully healed.”

“Which, to answer your question, should be soon,” Theo told her. She offered him a smile.

“How are patrols going alone?”

“Boring, but fine. After Snape put the fear of every god that’s ever existed into the entire school during dinner the other night, only the bravest of souls have bothered trying to sneak out after curfew. Or lost first years.”

“It doesn’t sound like he said anything particularly frightening,” she frowned at them.

“Sure, but he’s  _ never _ made an announcement,” Blaise pointed out. “Everyone knows he’s serious.”

Cassiopeia fell silent before she sighed. “Has anyone managed to get Pansy alone?”

“No,” Draco shook his head. “She’s avoiding us.” 

“Shit.” 

“What did Snape say about it?”

“He said he’s going to have to start singling me out in class, which is fine,” she shrugged. “He also said he’s going to increase our private lessons, so it doesn’t bother me.”

“Hey, at least you’re allowed to go to class again,” Astoria pointed out without opening her eyes. Cassiopeia shrugged in response. 

“How're the meetings going?”

Theo rolled his eyes. “We tried teaching them the blood wards you suggested but Susan refused to let us.”

Cassiopeia scoffed. “Okay, sure. Not like they’ll be useful in a battle or anything.”

“Yeah, we ended up just working on the Patronus again,” Blaise rolled his eyes. “They seem to miss their honorary Gryffindor.”

Choosing to ignore her boyfriend’s comment, Cassiopeia sighed. “There has to be an easier form of communication aside from my DA coin. I’m going to look into it. The Patronus is too hard to master and I want something that the younger kids can use, too.”

“Do you think there’s anything like that?” Astoria wondered softly, rolling over onto her side to get more comfortable. The girl had a habit of cuddling up to whatever friend was closest that she felt safe with and falling asleep, and Cassiopeia was certain she’d already be asleep if they weren’t talking and disturbing her. 

“I remember seeing something in Grimmauld Place,” she confirmed. “I’ll see if I can go over there and check it out in the next couple of days. I’ll sneak out if I have to. I want to find it and hopefully master it before the next meeting.” 

“You’ve got four days,” Theo said, standing. Blaise took his place and she watched Theo head for the door. 

“What are you doing?”

“I’m covering detention for Snape,” he explained with an eye roll. “Some third years snuck into his potions storage and destroyed half of the stock in there so he’s at a lab working on them with a few others.”

Cassiopeia winced. “I can’t imagine how many detentions they received.”

“He wanted to suspend them but they were Gryffindors, so McGonagall just gave them a month of detentions.”

She scoffed. “I got two months just for throwing Gryffindor’s tryouts.”

“McGonagall doesn’t care as much about his potions stock as he does about Quidditch.”

* * *

**November 2nd, 1996**

**Grimmauld Place**

Cassiopeia winced when she felt the wards tighten upon her arrival and willed them to relax, hoping Sirius hadn’t noticed. She was, technically, confined to the castle still, but with her friends aware of where she was and being in a Black property, she felt comfortable being there alone. Upon entering the library, however, she realized she wasn’t alone.

“Oh,” she blinked, looking at the Alliance meeting in progress. “Hello.”

“Cassiopeia,” Sirius stared at her, looking particularly unhappy.

“I’ll just… go,” she suggested, turning on her heel. She felt the wards tighten and winced. “Merlin, okay, fine. Relax.”

“What are you doing here?” Regulus asked her. “Severus said you are not allowed to go anywhere but classes.”

“Snape left me in Slytherin common room with an unlocked floo,” she crossed her arms in front of her, looking at the disapproving Alliance. “I just needed to do some research. Really it’s his fault for not assuming I’d try to leave.”

“Cas,” Sirius sighed, waving her to the door. She didn’t move until he met her, at which point he grabbed her arm gently and pulled her out of the room, closing the door behind them. “You can’t do that.”

“I’m going crazy at Hogwarts, Sirius,” she tipped her head back, letting her arms drop back to her side. “I feel useless. The only thing I can do is help prepare the students, which is why I came here. I’d have asked you or Reg to help me but I don’t remember which book it was in, so I just came myself.” 

“And if you can’t remember where it is, how do you plan to find it?”

“It’s definitely in the pile of books I read two summers ago,” she told him firmly. “But I’m not sure where. It won’t take me too long.” 

“Fine. You can look, but once you find it, you have to go back,” he told her before pausing. “Or do you want to come home? You don’t have to be there, Cas.”

She paused, seriously considering it. She shook her head. “No, someone needs to teach them how to fight or protect themselves. My friends are talented, but I hate leaving it to them even this long. I only trust myself.” 

“Okay,” he sighed, tugging lightly at her hair, making her smile. “You’re welcome to sit in for the rest of the meeting and then look.”

“Yeah, why are you meeting here?”

“There are a few new members,” he explained. “The Boots-,”

“Their son is in the DA,” she interrupted. “Good choice, if they’re anything like Terry.”

“The Corners-,”

“Also in the DA.”

“And the Goldsteins.”

Cassiopeia let out a short laugh. “Anthony is in the DA, too. I’d attribute their willingness to join to their kids. I told the senior DA about the Alliance.”

“Well, good job, then,” he smiled at her. “Politics from Hogwarts. You really are a pureblood now.”

“Shut up,” she rolled her eyes. “Let’s go.”

He nodded once and opened the door for her. When she approached the table, Regulus summoned a chair for her and she sat down between her brothers with a smile. 

“Cassiopeia will be joining us, so if any of you have any questions about your kids in the DA, I’d suggest you direct them to her,” Sirius told them. 

“I’m glad to see you’re doing well,” Amelia told her with a smile. She returned it. Sirius had stormed into her office after leaving Cassiopeia and had given her the little description he’d gotten from the girl. Nothing had come of it, of course, but the woman had promised that she’d get a time turner from the time room for her. 

“Almost all better,” Cassiopeia nodded. “I was able to remove the bandages yesterday, so it’s mostly pain management now.” 

“My son told us his leader was attacked,” a man said. With a raised eyebrow from Cassiopeia, he smiled. “Patrick Goldstein. Anthony is in your senior DA.”

She nodded with a smile. “He’s one of the few seventh years we’ve got. I’m amazed he makes it to the meetings with his Head Boy duties, but I’m very grateful to have him there.”

“For introductions,” Sirius said, waving at a man with sandy blonde hair. “Lord Boot.”

“Wonderful to meet you,” she smiled, noting the similarities between him and his son. 

“And Lady Corner,” Sirius waved at a woman with short, brown hair and green eyes. She smiled at Cassiopeia and it was returned. 

“So, you’re the young lady that’s protecting our kids,” she hummed. “Michael told me you kicked a friend of his out of your club.”

Cassiopeia’s lips thinned. “Justin assaulted another member. He was no longer welcome as he violated the contract he signed - the contract they all signed. I understand that your son may not understand the decision I made, but it was backed by every other girl in the room, so I stand by it."

“Cas?” Sirius frowned at her. “What happened?”

“I was teaching them a spell that melts and reforms materials. Justin decided to stop practicing and melted a girl’s shirt off of her. It was unacceptable, so he is no longer welcome. He has not forgotten what he’s learned but he will not remember us.” 

“I think that’s quite fair,” Daniel nodded firmly. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but if he’d done that to one of my girls, I’d be furious.”

“I’d lose my shit if it were Cassie,” Sirius agreed. 

“The issue is deeper than Justin thinking he was doing something funny, and I’m certain there’s not time for that discussion, for no other reason than by the time we finish that, Alliance matters, and I get what I need, I’ll get about six detentions from Snape for leaving.”

“Oh, kitten, we’re definitely telling him,” Sirius let out a short laugh. She stared at him in horror, making him laugh harder. “You slipped away, okay, but it’s not like we want to let that happen  _ again _ .”

“Regulus!” 

“I agree with him.”

Cassiopeia looked away from her brothers, feeling particularly betrayed.

* * *

**November 3rd, 1996**

**Room of Requirement**

“ _ Nuntiis _ ,” Cassiopeia muttered, staring at the space above her wand. It lit up, and she breathed out in relief and cast the next spell, this one meant to keep the message only visible to the person it’s sent to. “ _ Secretum _ . Snape. Can I  _ please _ stop casting this?”

She watched in satisfaction as Snape picked up his wand again and scowled at her. He was working on the next chapter of her potions book and she thought that if she interrupted him again, he might hex her. 

“Okay, fine,” she rolled her eyes. “Can I move on to wandless?”

“You may.”

She grinned and put her wand back in the holster and began waving her hand around silently, frowning when nothing happened. It took her three more tries before the amber light lit up the tips of her fingers and she sent a message to Blaise this time, telling him she loved him. 

“Don’t  _ play _ ,” Snape scowled, getting up and walking over. “You are lucky I allowed you to do this at all after the stunt you pulled yesterday.”

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes and cast the spell again. “It’s not like anything happened and I only went to Grimmauld Place. I just needed the book.” 

“And my assistance,” he added. “The spell was in a book of unfinished spells, Black.”

“Yeah, okay, I needed your help,” she sighed, dropping her hand. “I’m okay.” 

“And you were not two weeks ago,” he stared at her. “We cannot protect you forever, Cassiopeia. That is the closest we have ever come to truly losing you. Had you not had your brothers to pull on, you would have been dead before anyone got to you.”

“I know,” she muttered, looking away from him. She felt a significant amount of guilt over getting hurt, not for her brothers or her friends but rather for Snape. He’d spent so long protecting her and she’d almost ruined it all. “I’m sorry.” 

Snape paused. She had never truly apologized when he berated her for being in danger, and it was a situation he didn’t know how to handle. He reached out and patted her shoulder awkwardly. “Continue working.”

* * *

**November 4th, 1996**

**Room of Requirement**

The room was filled with a significant amount of the upper years. Every meeting brought new members and though it was only early November, all of Gryffindor had joined - upper and lower years to the respective DA groups - as well as all of Hufflepuff, much of Ravenclaw, and smaller numbers of Slytherin. Basically, everyone that was against Voldemort had joined the group. The only Slytherins were Cassiopeia and her friends and yet, somehow, they were the unofficial leaders of the group. 

Three meetings in, Cassiopeia had given into the argument over who was the true leader and she’d declared it to be the Black family, which meant it was her, Harry, and Draco. The two boys had been annoyed, but she’d raised an eyebrow and abused her power in the family to convince them to do it. 

It was truer than Sirius had guessed that the DA was her political world. The DA was essentially the Alliance. Everyone there listened to stories about Dumbledore and Voldemort alike, and everyone there had agreed that neither were the answer. 

So, basically, it wasn’t Dumbledore’s Army. It was the Grey Alliance’s army.

And it was that Monday at the beginning of November when one of the most powerful people in the wizarding world - though she’d hex anyone that called her that - returned to them. 

“Why are you all clapping?” she scowled at them, making her friends laugh. “Oh my god, stop.” 

“They’re glad you’re back,” Blaise laughed from her side. She looked over to Ginny, who screamed at them all to shut up, which they did, used to the redhead calming the crowd. It had become a regular role of hers.

“Okay, yes, I’m back,” she offered them a smile. It was both groups at the moment since the spell would be taught to both older and younger students. It was easy to learn, so she expected older students to help the younger when they needed it. “Thank you, guys. Now, the reason we’re all here today is that I know you’ve been struggling with the Patronus, which is totally valid. There are many grown witches and wizards who cannot cast it. 

“I’ve introduced this spell to my brothers, so they’ll be spreading it to the DMLE and the Order as well. This should be rather easy, so I expect any upper years to assist anyone having issues as soon as you get it.”

“What does it do?” Dean called to her. 

“It’s an alternate form of messages,” she explained. “I found the theory and idea of it in a book of unfinished spells, so Snape and I had to finish it. I’ve tested it a  _ lot _ , so it should send messages that you can physically read, but you’ll also hear it. It’s to be mixed with the spell  _ secretum _ to ensure no one else can see or hear it. The spell should work over any distance, proven when I sent Sirius to South Africa and he got my message, so don’t worry about that.” 

“Better question: does it work wandlessly?”

Cassiopeia grinned at Ginny and held her hand up, casting the spell wandlessly and silently. She didn’t pair it with the privacy spell, however, and laughed when Ginny and those around her jumped at the message appearing in front of her. “That’s without the privacy charm. It requires very little power. This spell is designed to work in your favor if you are captured. Obviously, as all wandless magic, it won’t work if you are stunned or something of the like, but not everyone thinks to do that.”

“Okay,” Harry looked at all of them. “Let’s get to work.”

* * *

“ _ How did you do that _ ?”

“Honestly, I think he  _ tries _ to do it sometimes,” Ginny muttered, spelling the soot off of them. Cassiopeia scowled and grabbed Seamus’s wand from him as he coughed, looking it over. 

“Where did you get this, Seamus?”

“My grandpa.”

“Merlin’s sake,” she huffed out, handing it over. “You’re getting a new one. Next Hogsmeade weekend, I’m taking you to Ollivander and getting you a new wand.” 

“Why? It works fine.”

“Until you blow something up as you have been for the last six years,” she reminded him, looking around. She shot sparks into the air, a spell taught to her by the twins, and they paused mid-air to spell  _ break _ before disappearing completely. The noise and movement slowed before stopping completely to look at her. “Okay! Raise your hand if you did not at some point buy a new wand and have a second-hand wand.” 

About ten hands flew up and she sucked in a breath to calm herself. “Okay, now keep your hands up if you have occasional but persistent problems with spells, charms, hexes and the like.”

None of the hands fell. 

“Right, I’m taking all of you to Hogsmeade this weekend to buy you a new wand. Merlin’s sake, that’s so fucking-,” she felt Ginny place her hand over her mouth and looked at the sea of first years in the corner. “Ah, sorry. Continue.”

People got back to work and she scowled to Ginny and Seamus. “That’s dangerous! As proven by the soot on your face, Seamus.” 

“Ah, it’s not that bad,” he shrugged. She rolled her eyes. 

“It’s important to have a wand for  _ you _ . That was fine for your grandpa but it’s not right for you. Family members’ wands are the best for a second hand wand, that’s true, but it’s best to get a new one.”

“Well, what about the one on your thigh?” Ginny questioned. Cassiopeia shrugged. 

“It came from a Black,” she explained. “My dad gave it to me when I landed in Potter Manor because I didn’t have a wand. I tried giving it back but Harry threw it at me and ran away. You know, like a child.”

“Excuse me,” someone said in a small voice. Cassiopeia turned around to see a second year, Charlie, frowning at her with a girl hiding behind him. “We have two second hand wands, but we’re too young for Hogsmeade.”

“Mm,” she hummed, looking around until she caught sight of Harry. “Harry! Come here!” He ducked under a wand and did as she asked, stopping at her side, his messy black hair touching hers. “These two are going to need to borrow the cloak to get into Hogsmeade.”

“Sure,” Harry frowned. “But you’ll-,”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure it gets back to you,” she promised. He nodded and smiled at the kids before walking away. “Are you guys getting the spell okay?”

“I’ve got it but Violet doesn’t,” Charlie said, referencing his sister, who was still hiding behind him. 

“That’s okay,” Cassiopeia smiled, pulling out her wand. “I know I might look like a big, scary Slytherin, but I remember being in first year. I was quite good at it. Do you want to know how I would’ve gone about learning it back then?”

“Mmhm,” the girl nodded. Cassiopeia waved her wand a little but didn’t cast.

“That’s the wand movements,” she explained. “Try that.” 

Violet did, and Cassiopeia corrected her softly. 

“It’s a small loop,” she explained. Both the young girl and her brother were Gryffindors, and she almost wanted to bring Harry back as most younger Gryffindors didn’t like her. Most everyone liked Harry, since he was the boy who lived, so he was rather good with their rival house. Still, she kept going. “Can you cast a lumos?”

Violet moved her wand and lit it up and Cassiopeia grinned. 

“Perfect! Now do that but change the words. Nuntiis. Don’t worry about hiding it for now, okay?”

“ _ Nuntiis _ ,” Violet muttered as she moved her wand. They both smiled brightly when the tip of it lip up amber. 

“Okay, now say who you want it to go to and what it should say.”

“To Charlie… I got it,” she whispered. Cassiopeia looked over to where the boy had wandered off to and saw his face light up happily. 

“That’s a good brother you’ve got there,” she told the girl. “Are you guys close?”

“Yeah. He helps me with all of this,” Violet disclosed quietly. “He’s my best friend. You have a brother too, don’t you?”

Cassiopeia smiled sadly. “Yes, I do. Three. Two of them by blood. Our relationship is quite abnormal.”

“Because they’re so old?”

“Partly,” she nodded. “Sirius is thirty-six. Regulus is closer to my age, though. He’s nineteen and I’m seventeen. We just didn’t grow up together like you and Charlie did. I grew up with Harry, though. Harry’s sixteen.”

“Well do you love them?”

“I love all of them,” she confirmed with a smile. “Quite a bit.”

“That’s all that matters,” Violet told her firmly. Cassiopeia felt her lips twitch.

“I guess so. Having them is much better than not having them. Would you like to work on  _ Secretum _ now?”

“Yes, please.”

* * *

**November 16th, 1996**

**Room of Requirement**

“Okay, all of you need to make sure not to wander off,” Cassiopeia sighed at the group in front of her. Most of the students were older and the only young kids there were Charlie and Violet, who were staring in wonder at the Cloak as Harry showed them how to use it. He’d be coming with, mostly because Sirius had had a small heart attack when Cassiopeia mentioned they’d be lending it to some young kids. After a lecture on how long it had been in the Potter family and how it was a prized family heirloom, she’d given in and told Harry he had to come with and that Daphne could hex her later for ruining their date. “We’re going straight to Ollivanders Hogsmeade location. My brother wrote him and ensured he’d be there today, so it should go quicker. Once you’ve got your wand, I’ll help you pay and you can go - except for you, Charlie and Violet. It’s dangerous out there right now and you’re not old enough, anyway. Harry will escort you back to the castle.”

“C’mon, Black, let’s go,” Seamus complained. “I’ve got a date at noon!” 

With an eye roll, Cassiopeia asked the Room for a passage from the room to Ollivanders. She’d tested it out the day before and had been very relieved to see that it worked. She stepped in first and once everyone was in the tunnel, Harry came up at the end. It was a short five-minute walk and once they reached the end, she opened the door and let everyone file into the shop. 

“Miss Black!” Ollivander grinned. “Let me see your wand.”

Cassiopeia shook her head with a fond smile and handed it over before pushing her skirt up a little and giving him her borrowed wand. 

“Well, yours is chipped,” he hummed. “Getting in fights, are we?”

“That asshole chipped my wand?” she gasped, grabbing it back. “Can I send someone to Azkaban for that?”

“Cassiopeia,” Harry scoffed. “Chill. You have our great great grandmother’s wand, too.”

“Yes, this is the wand of Ursula Black,” Ollivander hummed, nodding. “Wonderful condition. The Black family collects old wands instead of burying them, do they not?”

“They do,” she agreed, putting both wands back in the holsters as Draco walked into the small shop, eyeing her curiously. She’d known for multiple days that he wanted to speak with her and since it made her nervous, she’d been avoiding him. He didn’t usually seek her out in such an obvious way to talk. “Ursula Black and her husband, Phineas, were actually disowned. Our grandmother was nearly disowned for her choice of husband, so she took a pile of wands that belonged to dead, disowned family members. Our dad gave me this one.”

“The Black family is a family of old, powerful magic,” Ollivander nodded. “But that is a discussion for another day. For now, I will help your friends here.”

Cassiopeia smiled and stepped to the side as Seamus went first, mostly because he was at the front of the line. He took barely three minutes, and she paid for him and let him leave. It moved on rather quickly. 

When it was three students including the younger kids, Cassiopeia, Draco, and Harry left in there, something caught her eye outside and she gasped loudly, throwing up her hands to cast the largest shield she’d ever done before. The fiery bombarda, an enhanced version of the spell, hit the shield hard and ricocheted into the shop, setting part of it on fire. 

“Harry!” she shouted. “Get them out of here!” 

“I can’t,” he screamed back. She looked over her shoulder for barely a moment to see the door to the passage on fire and uncovered from her shield. It was a large, strong one that she had to hold with both hands. She hadn’t had time to grab her wands or daggers and doing so would mean dropping the protection they all had. Even so, the weight of the shields dropped her to her knees even as she felt Ollivander reinforce it. 

“They’re here for me,” she muttered to Draco, who was grabbing her wand from her thigh for her. “I have to go.”

“I’ll fucking stun you,” he snapped. “You have no way of knowing what they want.”

She groaned when a dark curse passed through the shield and dug into her side. She sucked in a breath and bit her lip. “Okay. I’m going to drop a hand and you need to help support it. Put the wand on the floor so I can grab it.”

“Got it.”

“One… two… three!” She shouted. His wand was up to help before she’d dropped her hand, and she hurried to grab the wand and raise it again to cast the shield. Before he dropped it, she swapped hands to carry the wand in her right hand, her wand hand. The shield, now held by four people, covered the entire front of the shop. The kids - Charlie and Violet - were being comforted and protected by the fourth year witch, Charlotte. “Draco, do you recognize anyone? I don’t see Dolohov.”

“Rookwood,” he answered her with a wince as the shield became harder to hold. “Rosier. And- oh,  _ fuck _ .”

“What?” she asked, looking around. They were mostly unmasked, and it took her a minute before she saw the head of platinum blonde hair that her cousin had. “Ah, fuck. Okay. It’s okay.”

“We can wait you out,” Lucius called to them. The rest of the village behind them was either on fire or hiding in their homes, which she couldn’t blame them for. There were some people screaming and running or fighting, and it was clear that the main reason for the attack was Ollivanders. “Or you can come to us.”

“I’m not doing shit,” she told him sharply. “You’ve hurt me enough, asshole.”

“Oh no, I only told them to leave you on the brink of death,” he replied with an amused smile that made her sick. “If I’d known they’d do it like that… well, I would’ve paid them more. They really went the extra mile, didn’t they? Well, I suppose they spent too much time with the Dark Lord’s followers. Perhaps Dolohov taught them how to-,”

Cassiopeia let out a furious scream and felt a wave of magic expelled from her. It hit Lucius and he was thrown twenty feet back, where he collided with the building behind him. Unfortunately, her furious accidental magic had drained her, and it took much more effort to hold the shield up. When she dipped into the shared core with Regulus, she gasped at the reminder of the bond. She could feel him already panicked and despite the fact that he knew where she was, she decided to send him a message.

_ Hogsmeade. We’re in Ollivanders. We can’t hold out much longer. There are kids here. I’m draining quick now. _

_ We’re on our way. _

“Regulus is coming,” she grit out. Lucius was stirring in the back after being hit with a  _ rennervate _ by a passing Death Eater, and she feared for what he’d say. And then just as he walked up, she felt something.

_ We’re here. Stay where you are. _

_ You can’t both be here. It’s too dangerous, Regulus. _

She could feel the way he ignored her words in favor of looking for her and she knew he could feel her frustration, so she just cursed loudly instead. 

“Too much of the Black family is here,” Draco told her sharply, glancing back at Harry. “Potter, I’m going to go over there and distract them. You need to get those kids out of here.”

“No!” Cassiopeia shouted as he ignored her and moved in front of the shield. She winced at the effort of moving it forward to cover him again. “Draco, no!”

“Just focus on keeping them safe,” he snapped at her, raising his wand and throwing a dark hex at Rookwood, who began dueling him while Rosier kept breaking down the shield. Lucius was awake but injured and unable to get up and do anything, much to her relief. Cassiopeia did as he asked and focused on the shield until she saw Draco be hit with a curse that dropped him to the ground. When Rookwood began to  _ crucio _ him, she turned to Ollivander and Harry. “ _ Fianto Duri _ ! Now!” 

It was only when both of them cast it that she dropped her shield and ran out as fast as she could and distracted Rookwood. Her arm was still bleeding from the curse she’d been hit with earlier, and she paid it no mind as she got to work. She threw curse after curse at him, and he was, unfortunately, a good match for her. One, in particular, kept moving to the tip of her tongue, but she hesitated more and more as Draco lay there, far too close to Rookwood. She was aware that Regulus and Sirius were just nearby, but neither tried to interfere considering the speed at which she and Rookwood were trading spells and curses. Instead, they took out Rosier and Lucius and she saw Sirius, out of the corner of her eye, grab Draco and carry him away. 

_ Do it. _

She gasped and almost missed the chance to shield herself from a curse sent her way. Instead of words, she just sent her confusion to him. 

_ Draco is safe. _

Her confusion fell and she understood what he meant. There was no way she could win the duel. They were perfectly matched for one another and since she’d held the very draining shield for so long, she’d fail long before Rookwood did. The curse she’d wanted to cast the entire time came to mind again and she cast it silently, watching as her Sectumsempra curved around his shield and hit his side, slicing him open. It was only when he fell to the ground, unmoving, that she dropped her wand, aware that they’d been the only ones left fighting. 

“You’re hurt,” Regulus told her. She ignored him and ran past him into Ollivanders where Draco had been taken. She didn’t even notice that Harry and the kids were missing as she fell to her knees to look at her friend and cousin, who was awake and truthfully not very bad off. 

“I’m so sorry,” she told him softly. “How do you feel?”

“Not great,” he answered her with a frown. “You’re bleeding, Black. Who hit you with that?”

“Lucius, I think,” she waved him off. “We need to get you to the infirmary. The first hour is crucial.” 

“I’ll get him there, kitten,” Sirius assured her. “Reg, can you-,”

“I’ll take her home,” he confirmed. She went to argue but upon seeing the looks on her brothers' faces, she fell silent and nodded. She got to her feet and grabbed onto Regulus, letting him Apparate them into Potter Manor’s kitchen. “Maria!” 

The elf appeared and looked them over. “Do you need me to take care of her?”

“Yes, I do. She was hit with a dark curse and we don’t know what. If it’s any help, Lucius Malfoy cast it.”

Maria nodded and moved to Cassiopeia’s side silently, waving her hand over the injured arm silently. She could feel the elf magic picking at something inside her arm and gasped as a dark blue ooze began dripping out. It was collected in a small bowl and when it was nearly full, it stopped and Maria put some dittany in the arm, dropped a pain potion in her hands, and left when Regulus asked her to. Cassiopeia stared at the pain potion and set it on the counter, uninterested. 

“You need that,” Regulus told her gently. She shook her head silently, and he sighed. He could  _ feel _ the numbness coming from her and knew the flurry of thoughts in her head that he was getting from her were probably part of the shock she was in. “Cas, look at me. You’re okay.” 

She looked at him, her silver eyes dark. “No.”

“Draco is okay.”

“I should have gone.”

“ _ What _ ?”

“I know they were there for me. It can’t be a coincidence that there aren’t any Hogsmeade attacks until I show up. I wanted to go. I was going to, but he told me not to. And then he went, he started fighting even when I tried to stop him, and he got hurt.”

“Because you can’t fight everything,” Regulus told her firmly. “This wasn’t your fight. We don’t know that they were there for you. There have been reports that the Dark Lord is looking for Ollivander, which is why the Order had him under protection. When Sirius told Ollivander that kids needed wands, he wanted to come. The Order was there to help him, they just weren’t good enough."

“They were there?” she frowned. He nodded at her, guiding her up the stairs and to her room where he grabbed one of the calming draughts she kept in her bedside table and handed it to her. 

“They sent Hestia Jones and Sturgis Podmore. Both are fine but were stunned early on. I mean it, Cas, you can’t put this all on yourself. You did an incredible thing, protecting those kids like you did. But I need you to listen to me, okay? I’m very serious about this.”

“Okay.”

“No one’s life, not even Draco’s, is more important than yours. If he has to die - stop it, let me talk - if he has to die, then he will die. It is not worth it.”

Cassiopeia looked at him in horror. “Our job is to protect the House of Black, Regulus. I can’t put my life above my friend, our  _ cousin _ . He needed help.”

“I could have helped him.”

She scoffed. “You had no intention of helping anyone until you got to me and we both know that.”

“Sirius could have. He would have.”

“He wouldn’t have gotten there in time. It’s fine. It’s over, he’s fine and I’m fine.”

“Cas,” Regulus said quietly, frowning at her. “It is bothering you. I know it is. We both know Draco will be furious.” 

“He’s already fucked up enough recently,” she muttered. “If he yells at me for this, I’ll charm his mouth shut until he’s ready to stop being an arse.”

“But it is bothering you.”

She paused before nodding slowly, her hair falling in front of her to shield her face from him, though he didn’t need to see it to recognize the emotional turmoil. “Last year, I had to. It was a fast paced battle and hesitation would have meant he died. Today was… different. I made the conscious decision to kill Rookwood, knowing what it meant. I knew why the spell would hit him regardless of his shield and I knew it would work - that’s how you picked up on it, right?”

“It is,” he nodded slowly. “I just knew that you knew something that could work but did not want to use it. I’ve never seen that curse before.”

“I wouldn’t expect so. I don’t know if it’s ever been used before today. If it can’t hit its intended target, it’s drawn to the nearest blood source. It cuts a person open and draws the blood to the surface so that it kills the target quickly.”

“How did you learn something so…”

“Dark?” she questioned. He nodded and she bit her lip, unsure if she should tell him.

“Severus.”

She winced. It was so easy to forget how intertwined their minds were now. “Yes. He made me learn it wandlessly and silently so that if I someday get captured, I can kill my captor. He demanded I never teach it to anyone else and I don’t intend to. I’ve never verbally cast it before.”

“He created it?” Regulus wondered in surprise. She nodded quickly. 

“He didn’t tell me much, just that he did it when he was my age. He helped me with the Nuntiis spell, too.” 

“Do you think there was anything else you could have done?”

She considered the question quietly. When she’d been fighting, they’d shot off any and all spells they could think of. She’d  _ wanted _ to take a moment to surprise him with an overpowered Patronus - because when she overpowered them, the feeling of such potent magic could knock a fully grown wizard off balance - but there hadn’t been time to plan what to do next or even to gather the energy for such an attack. While considering Sectumsempra, she’d also considered a multitude of other dark curses, some that would even break through his steadily held shield, but any that would do so would also have killed him. In the end, the Sectumsempra was the most painless death she could’ve given him out of everything she’d thought of. 

“Yes. I know plenty of dark curses. Not as many as you, maybe, but I did research and Draco taught me some after I begged him for three years. I never intended to use any of it, but with the war, I have to. And I could have. My issue is just that it would’ve had the same ultimate outcome and I don’t want to be the cause of unnecessary suffering. Sectumsempra killed him quickly.”

“Mercy,” he told her gently. “I tried to do the same thing, Cas. That’s doing the best thing when the only thing you can do is bad. So why does it bother you so much now and not before?”

“Because I spent so long thinking about it. At the DOM, I knew it was either Draco’s life or the life of that Death Eater. I killed him the easiest and most painless way I knew how. I  _ know _ I didn’t have the power to  _ Avada _ Rookwood or I would have. But I spent so long dueling him, thinking about how I could end the duel and ultimately in which fashion I wanted to kill him. I knew I could the entire time we fought. It only came down to which way.  _ That _ is what is bothering me.”

Regulus struggled to find his words, aware that it was a very sensitive subject they were on. He’d had no one to talk to after he’d made the conscious decision to kill someone for the first time. Anyone he could’ve told would only have congratulated him, and while he could’ve given her empty words of reassurance, he knew she definitely didn’t want them. She was like him in the sense that empty words were always wasted on her.

“We both know what is coming, Cassie. We know the war is ahead of us. I fought in one already, and I will do it again for you. I need you to know that it is much more likely than not that you will be forced to do exactly what you did today again, and so will I.”

“I know.”

“But I will always be willing to listen when you need to talk,” he promised her. “I will not let you wallow in the guilt of your actions, Cassiopeia. We are Blacks. We will do what we need to survive and when it is over, we will deal with what is left. You showed us that this family cannot just fall apart, Cas, and we’ll make sure you don’t, either.”

She stared at him, looking into the eyes that reflected hers perfectly and felt love and pride bloom in her. She wrapped her arms around him and breathed out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Sirius would likely drive you to madness,” Regulus agreed with a quiet laugh as he hugged her tightly, glancing at their older brother, who stood in the door watching them quietly. 

“I resent that,” Sirius huffed. “I’ll have you know she was fine before you got here.”

“You were a literal child,” she disagreed. “You tried to get me on a broom no less than ten times. I had to hex you to get you to stop.”

“It’s not my fault Harry was at the Weasleys.”

She stared at him. “Yes, it is. He is your godson. You are his guardian.  _ You let him go _ . I reminded you of that every time you complained.”

He waved her off. “Draco is awake and demands to speak with you. We’ve, uh, taken his wand. He intended to hex you. When he informed me he could do wandless magic, Narcissa and I threatened him before he’d give in.”

Cassiopeia paled a little. “No, thanks.”

“You can’t avoid him,” Regulus told her gently. “We’ll come with, okay?”

“I can try.”

“No, you can’t,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “Not only do you have classes with him, but there’s a family meeting tomorrow and you’ll be coming to the war council after that.”

“There’s an official war council?” She stared in shock. He nodded a little.

“Amelia and Kingsley have just finalized it. No Death Eaters, very few people. Spearheaded by a few families, including us, which means all three of us will be there for each meeting. I know you told us both you’re getting restless at school, so I figured this might be a good thing.”

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “Thank you.”

“Now come on,” he nodded toward the door. “He’s at Hogwarts in the Infirmary.” 

* * *

Cassiopeia hesitated, standing between her brothers, as the doors opened. She could see that it was clearly empty, save for one bed where she saw Draco scowling at Madame Pomfrey as she handed him a potion. Narcissa sat by his bed with a small, amused smile.

Cassiopeia nodded a little and walked in, staring ahead at her friend, who was now staring at her openly, his displeasure wiped from his face, something that was likely Narcissa’s doing. When she reached the bed, she stood at the end of it, still sandwiched between her brothers, who had promised to stay with her. “Draco.”

“Cassiopeia,” he greeted. “In all due respect, what the fuck?”

“Draco,” Narcissa scolded sharply. “She saved your life.”

“Yes, she did,” he agreed, glaring at Cassiopeia now. “Twice, by killing them. What the fuck, Black?”

“You would’ve done the same,” she defended hotly. “It’s not my damn fault you care so much about life debts! It doesn’t even matter, Draco! We’re in the same House! If I wanted your money, I’d just fucking take it.”

“It’s not just about money,” he told her angrily. “It’s about  _ us _ . You don’t have to demand my money or that I marry you, you can demand my service!” 

She looked at him, feeling rather offended. “And you think I’d actually  _ do that _ ? Oh my god, Draco, I don’t need your service! I  _ need _ you to stop being such an arse about this! I saved you by interfering but I killed him because it was either him or me, okay? I did what I had to do for both of us. Fucking chill.”

Sirius let out a small snort, despite the serious moment. At her glare, he put his hands up. “I’m sorry, kitten, but you were all genuine and scary until you told him to ‘fucking chill.’”

“It’s not even about the fucking life debt,” Draco snapped at her, ignoring his Head of House. “You’ve killed two fucking people because of me, Cassiopeia. You shouldn’t have had to do that.”

She fell silent, the words of anger she’d already prepared to shoot at him fading away. Now that she was looking, she could see the worry in his eyes, masked by the anger he showed so clearly. She glanced at Regulus and he nodded, tugging Sirius out of the room. Narcissa followed, and Cassiopeia sat on the bed next to Draco. “We shouldn’t have to do any of this, Draco. It’s not our choice. Sirius and Regulus did this before we were even born.” 

“You’ve killed people, Cas.”

“I know.” 

“You can’t kill people for me.”

Cassiopeia let out a short laugh. “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect the people I love. Plus, it’s my job.”

“Oh, don’t try that. It’s Sirius’ job.”

“No, it’s all of ours,” she denied sharply. “Sirius filed us all as Heads with the Ministry. I’m still heir, and magic still sees us that way, but politically, the job of keeping those in our House safe falls on Sirius, Regulus, and I.”

“We both know that’s not why you did it.”

“Okay, then why did you run out there to begin with?”

“Because I could  _ feel _ you getting ready to surrender yourself.” 

“Exactly. You don’t want to admit it, love, but you did the same thing I did. We’re family, okay? It’s what we do. We’ve been friends for over six years and I’d do it for you if I were still Belle Potter.” 

“I don’t want you to.”

“I don’t really care.”

Draco fell silent for a minute and she frowned. 

“You saw your dad,” she said quietly. “Are you okay?”

“He still wants to kill you,” he sighed. “He didn’t even care about me.” 

“I know.”

“He never gave a shit about me,” Draco told her, meeting her eyes. “He cared about the perfect pureblood son who hated all the same things he hated. Who would be the perfect Malfoy heir. He never cared about me.”

“He’s an asshole,” she muttered, lying back to hug him. He wasn’t usually a fan of physical affection but at that moment, he accepted it and silently wrapped an arm around her while she settled her head on his shoulder. “We’re not your father but you’ve got an entire family now.”

“I know,” he agreed quietly. She had closed her eyes and he was looking down at her with a frown, his mind going back to the confrontation from earlier. “I have a question.”

“Hmm.”

“What was he talking about?”

Eyes still closed, she grabbed his hand within hers and squeezed it in comfort. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what he said about Crabbe and Goyle and Dolohov.”

Cassiopeia froze, holding her breath as if it would pause time. “I’ve been so distracted, I forgot.”

“You lied to me,” he muttered quietly. 

“I just didn’t tell you,” she denied. “Dolohov did… and so did they. We see them every day in class and I didn’t want you to have to… know about it.”

“Does anyone know? Are they still dangerous to you? Because they’re dangerous people, Cassiopeia. I used to be friends with them.”

“Blaise knows,” she replied quietly. “So does Regulus and Snape.”

“Our lives suck.”

She let out a startled laugh and relaxed against him once more, letting her eyes fall closed. “Yeah, they do.” 

It was twenty minutes later when Sirius was no longer able to hold back their friends, who had been asking about both of them since the battle had ended. Now that they were in the same place, Sirius was unable to stop the teenagers from getting what they wanted, which led to the infirmary being stormed by the group, who stopped in surprise at the sight in front of them. Draco’s messy blonde hair fell against Cassiopeia’s wild black curls as they slept quietly together, having fallen asleep from the stress of the day when their conversation had ended.

Astoria smirked at them and waved her wand. It was thirty seconds later when a magical camera flew through the infirmary, hitting Theo on the way to her hand where she caught it and took a picture of the two.

“What was that for?” Theo asked, irritated as he rubbed his head. 

“Whenever I want either of them to do anything for me,” she shrugged, tucking the picture away in her pocket. 

Sirius looked at Narcissa with wide, impressed eyes. “They’re getting married, right? I want her in our House. She’s just as scary as she was when she was twelve.”

* * *


	25. War Council

**November 17th,1996**

**Potter Manor**

“Cool, we’re all here,” Sirius said, walking into the room finally with Regulus and Cassiopeia. The trio took their seats and Sirius looked at everyone. “M’kay, so, some shit went down.”

“Sirius,” Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. 

“What? I don’t want things to be too me.”

“Too… you?” Harry asked, apparently the most naive one in the family. 

“Yeah, too  _ Sirius _ .”

Harry rolled his eyes along with everyone else in the room.

“ _ Sirius _ ,” Regulus groaned, making his brother laugh. 

“Okay, okay,” he nodded with a grin. “Remus, did you and Cassie finish them?”

“We did,” he confirmed, grabbing a handful of galleons out of his pocket. He levitated them around until one sat in front of each of them, including himself. “These are Cassiopeia’s modified DA galleons. They’re much easier to use and they’ve been combined with a charm version of the communication spell she made with Snape. They’re also charmed to the House of Black, meaning if any of us needs to call an emergency meeting or is in danger, anything generally urgent, it will light up and burn until you respond to it. More have been given to Cassiopeia to go to her junior and senior DA groups, which is why these are charmed for the House. I have one as well, as the Black Regent.” 

“These are brilliant,” Tonks grinned. “That communication spell is really doing wonders for the younger training aurors who haven’t spent weeks trying to master their patronus.”

Sirius looked at the group. “Our House is officially under attack. We are all wanted by Voldemort. I’m sorry, Andromeda, but I must insist you three move in here. We need to keep you safe. We can keep your home preserved.”

Andromeda shared a look with her husband and daughter before nodding. “Okay.”

“Good,” he nodded. 

“We’ve written up a list of spells, hexes, and curses - light and dark - that we want everyone to know,” Regulus told them, waving his wand to pass out a stack of parchment. “The three of us, along with Harry and Tonks, will help ensure everyone knows them.”

“This war will be cruel,” Sirius nodded, glancing at his godson. “This may sound cruel to some of you, but if it ever comes down to you or someone else in a fight, I expect you to save yourselves. The House must survive. That isn’t to say that I don’t want you to help others - I do, and that’s why we’re fighting - but I want to ensure that you treasure your lives more than those of your friends.”

The words fell on the quiet family. Even Harry didn’t argue him. Sirius didn’t bother to pretend they’d all be okay like so many people, mostly Molly Weasley, wanted to do. He told them that they might get hurt, probably would, and reminded them to take care of themselves first. It was a good reminder for the younger generation including Tonks, Cassiopeia, Draco, and Harry since they hadn’t been raised in the Black House while it had fallen. 

The meeting ended soon after and while Draco and Harry went back to school and Tonks back to work, Sirius, Regulus, and Cassiopeia made their way to Grimmauld Place, which had been offered for the war council.

“So, who all is on it?” Cassiopeia wondered, taking her seat. She’d been exhausted since the day before, her magic taking its time to recover. Madame Pomfrey had informed her that it was dangerous to drain your core so much as often as she had been recently. After fighting Dolohov, revealing herself to Regulus, being attacked in the Great Hall, and protecting the kids and fighting Rookwood, she was dangerously low and it was taking her a good while to recover. She’d agreed to do as little magic as possible for the time being, much to everyone’s relief. 

“Amelia, Kingsley, Daniel, Elora Zabini, and us. They couldn’t find anyone from the light willing to join, so I suggested Elora. She’s a flirt but she was a good Slytherin and a master at strategy.”

“And they won’t be complaining about me?” she questioned as Maria served them tea. She offered the elf a smile and picked up her cup to take a sip.

“No, of course not,” Sirius shook his head. “The three of us are running the House, Cas. They can’t argue the three of us being at anything that the Heads are invited to. Besides, you’re seventeen now. You can do whatever the hell you want.”

“And are we going to discuss the Horcruxes?” Regulus questioned. 

“I think we should,” Cassiopeia nodded. “They all, aside from Kingsley, know about them. I think it’s a good idea to give them all of the information on the Horcruxes.”

“I agree,” Regulus told them. “I think it wise that, should anything happen to us, someone else in charge know what has to happen before Riddle can die.”

“Masters and Mistress, Lord Greengrass,” Maria introduced, guiding the man into the room. All three siblings got to their feet to greet him, only sitting once he’d done the same. 

“You’re looking well, Cassiopeia,” Daniel smiled. “I heard of your recent duel. You held up well.”

Cassiopeia tilted her head. “Who did you hear that from? I thought only my brothers saw us.”

“Daphne,” he explained. “Apparently, she was looking for Astoria when she noticed you fighting him.”

“I’m glad they’re both alright,” she said honestly. “I’ve been so worried. I know it scared Astoria pretty bad to be there during the raid, but she refuses to talk about it.” 

“Yes, Daphne is trying to convince her to see a mind healer,” Daniel grimaced. “You know Astoria.”

“She’s fucking stubborn,” Cassiopeia made a face. “I know. I can try talking to her about it if you’d like.”

“I’d appreciate that, thank you. Merlin knows she isn’t listening to us.”

“Minister Amelia Bones,” Maria announced as the woman walked in, taking her seat across from Sirius after greeting them. Maria rushed out of the room, only to come back a moment later with their next guest. “Lady Elora Zabini.”

“Just Kingsley then,” Sirius smiled at them once the woman had sat down. “He’s the last?”

“Yes,” Amelia confirmed. “We hoped to keep this rather small. Just grey or light families and high ranking, trusted officials. Since Kingsley is in the Order, I believe him to be safe.”

“Oh, he definitely is,” Sirius agreed. “I think he’d rather jump off a cliff than become a Death Eater.”

“That I would,” Kingsley laughed as he walked in, an irritated Maria behind him. It seemed he’d moved too quickly for the elf. She grabbed his coat from him and popped out, leaving them alone as Kingsley took his seat.

“Ah, we’re all here,” Amelia nodded at them. “Good. Shall we get to business?”

“I think so,” Daniel agreed. 

“Alright. This is the first official war council for the war against Tom Riddle, the Dark Lord known as Voldemort. Kingsley, would you like to let us know how the aurors are doing against the Death Eaters?”

“Sure,” the man nodded, getting to his feet and looking around the room. “It has been difficult, to say the least. Since Riddle is targeting old, dark families to join him, he has a vague sense of immunity among his followers. It is illegal to give Veritaserum to members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight for anything less than the Cruciatus and a few other intense crimes.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Cassiopeia said with a frown. “What other crimes?”

Kingsley thought about the question. “A few rarer but still serious crimes like entering a mind without permission, destroying a mind, sexual assault, and attacking the heir or lord of an Ancient and Noble House.”

Cassiopeia stared. “Okay. Thank you.”

“As I was saying, it makes it relatively difficult to pin down these followers. As with the last war, anyone we have arrested claims the Imperius was used on them. We have no way to prove they didn’t take the mark on their own, so-,”

“I can prove that,” Regulus told him. “You have to be willing to take the mark or it will kill you. I’ve witnessed it numerous times and it almost killed me as well.”

“And you would be willing to provide memories of these events and take Veritaserum?” Amelia questioned him. Regulus nodded. 

“Of course. If I can use my knowledge of my time with them for good, then perhaps it wasn’t entirely wasted.”

“We will collect those later, then,” Kingsley offered him a grateful smile. “Our issue, however, is that we cannot investigate Ancient and Noble Houses properly without it being illegal. They can claim almost anything as House affairs and tell us to shove it.” 

“It’s true,” Daniel agreed. “We’ve got far more rights than we should and right now, it’s hurting us.” 

“There isn’t much we can do about that, unfortunately,” Sirius made a face. “I did a lot of research on the subject during my first five and a half years of school. You can’t even get involved for the safety of a child. It’s shit.”

“What else, Kingsley? We’ve hit a wall there. Only laws will change that and those will take far too long. Years.”

“Well, we’ve tagged many Death Eaters using the spell Sirius gave us that tracks those in Hogwarts. We have a list of known Death Eaters and made a large map of England, so we know who they meet and if they leave. They even passed off the tag to Tom Riddle, so we know he’s at Malfoy Manor almost constantly. It’s helpful, but since it’s bigger than just Hogwarts, it takes a lot of power to uphold. There are times when we have to stop spelling it to rest, so the advantage isn’t total.”

“Still, that’s good,” Cassiopeia nodded. “Have you gotten a list of his closest?”

“We have. Rabastan Lestrange, Rosier, Snape - he is one of ours, however - Greyback, Dolohov, Avery, Malfoy, the Carrows, Yaxley, Crabbe and Goyle Sr, and Jugson.” 

Cassiopeia felt Regulus grab her hand within his and breathed out. All three names that made her want to throw up had just been said so casually, and it made her want to cry. She forced the emotions down and plastered on a smile as she listened. 

“Good,” Amelia nodded. “And do we know his priorities?”

“Well, to gain followers,” Kingsley said slowly. “He is going to visit the giants again, and he has Greyback expanding his pack. He’s tainted a large supply of Wolfsbane potion, so that’s a real threat. Raids are occurring much more often now in muggle and magical areas. We know he wants Ollivander but not why, and we know he’s already attacked. There has been word that the Black family - specifically its three Heads - are a main priority. Dolohov has been joined by Lucius Malfoy and the younger Crabbe and Goyle.”

“Shit,” Sirius whispered. Cassiopeia sat back in her chair, feeling nauseous. It was much too personal. Voldemort knew far too much about what would terrify her and he obviously was very willing to use those things.

“I would like to assign you all guards,” Amelia told them immediately, along with a nodding Kingsley. “Cassiopeia, I know you will be at school, which is why I think it would be a good idea to send Nymphadora to follow you.”

“But she’s a Black,” Cassiopeia shook her head quickly. “She’ll be in danger there, too.”

“She’s also an auror and the only one you trust,” Amelia said with a smile. “Not only do I want to keep you safe, I want to make sure you feel safe.” 

“I don’t want to make her uproot her life for me,” she denied with a frown.

“I agree with her, kitten,” Sirius told her, tugging at her hair gently. “Mini Tonks will be perfect.”

“Fine.”

“Good,” Amelia nodded. “Do any of you have anything to add?”

“We do,” Regulus told her, hesitating. “The Horcruxes.”

“Ah.”

“We have control of the situation,” he assured them all when no one seemed surprised. “Harry destroyed one in his second year. We killed one over the summer as well, and Harry was a Horcrux so we destroyed that. There are four more.”

“Do you know what all of them are?” Daniel wondered. The Black siblings nodded together. 

“There’s the locket,” Cassiopeia began slowly. “The cup, which we still need to grab from Bellatrix’s vaults, but that isn’t going anywhere so we aren’t too worried. There’s the ring, and then finally his snake, Nagini, who will have to be killed last. We have three of the four in some form but we don’t want to destroy any others because there’s a good chance Voldemort would notice and probably make more once he realizes we’ve got the rest.”

“And you  _ can _ destroy them, right?” Elora frowned at them. Sirius nodded. 

“Harry killed a basilisk when he destroyed the diary. It’s how he killed it. We recently collected the basilisk, which means we have a decent few fangs, some of which are being emptied of their venom to infuse daggers."

“They are?” Cassiopeia looked at him in surprise. “Since when?”

“Uh, since I realized it would be kinda hard to carry around such a murderous weapon that’s also slippery,” he shrugged. “I don’t want you to fall onto a basilisk fang, kitten. With your luck, you would. That’s also why I don’t want to infuse  _ your _ daggers.”

Cassiopeia scowled and crossed her arms but said nothing. It was probably a good point. With her luck, she  _ would _ accidentally kill herself with a basilisk venom infused dagger. 

“And how are the students?” Amelia wondered. Cassiopeia looked between them with a frown. 

“I’ve been very clear with my junior DA. They know that they are learning because they need to protect themselves but that they will not join whatever fight does come unless they’re older, god forbid this lasts that long. As for the senior DA, I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on everyone. They’re loyal and generally good people now.”

“There haven’t been any incidents since Justin?”

Her lips thinned. “No, and if there are, there will be hell to pay. But aside from my DA, I’m not entirely certain. Snape apparently put the fear of multiple gods into Slytherin so they’re not bothering me. There is one small issue, though, that might compromise Snape.”

“What’s that, Cas?” Sirius frowned. She hadn’t mentioned anything to him. Regulus narrowed his eyes at her before sighing and sitting back, their thoughts so intertwined that he could practically see the situation before she even began speaking. 

“You haven’t even told Severus,” Regulus accused. 

“I… forgot,” she winced. At the confused looks, she explained. “So I  _ may _ have thrown the Gryffindor quidditch tryouts because McLaggan was being a right arse to me. I was talking about it with Blaise and Theo when we ran into Snape and he gave me detentions. He then said something along the lines of ‘I would write your brother but I’m your only responsible magical guardian so just go to your dorm and stay there.’”

“Arsehole,” Sirius huffed. “What right does he have, grounding you?”

“Sirius, he is literally her guardian recognized by magic,” Regulus sighed.

“The point is,” Cassiopeia interrupted before Sirius could continue complaining. “Pansy heard him. She’s been avoiding my friends and I so we haven’t had time to- er- I’m gonna be honest here, we were planning to  _ Obliviate _ her.”

“Normally, I would very much disagree,” Amelia sighed. “But I believe your judgment is correct. I only worry that it is too late and doing so would raise further questions should the matter arise again. If she’s already passed the information on and someone asks her about it again and she doesn’t know what they’re talking about, it would be near confirmation that Snape is not a loyal Death Eater.”

“She’s right,” Regulus agreed. “It’s good that she’s avoiding you. Just be careful not to talk about sensitive topics in public.”

“I didn’t walk up to him and call him Dad,” Cassiopeia scowled. “He was caught up in yelling at me, it happens. It’s like he  _ sees _ me and his blood pressure skyrockets and then he’s seeing red and berating me for every little thing-,”

Sirius let out a laugh. “Sounds like you’ve got three times the daddy issues than a normal kid, kitten.”

“I’ll hex you.”

“You don’t have your wand, you left it in Potter Manor.”

“I don’t  _ need _ my wand, prat.”

“Okay,” Regulus put his hand on hers when she raised it. He gave an apologetic smile to a chucking Amelia. 

“If you can, Cassiopeia, I’d appreciate it if you could try to give me a list of student Death Eaters and students likely to be approached to become a Death Eater, especially who would be likely to accept such an offer.”

“I can do that,” she shrugged. “My friends will help, too. Draco is a good source of information on that because he hasn’t openly, loudly denounced Voldemort. Some people apparently see him as the only hope for the Black family, which is…  _ hilarious _ .”

“Great,” Amelia smiles at her. “Do you have any sort of mark for your DA the way that Dumbledore has for his Order? It would be good to know, when the time comes, who was certainly on our side and not to arrest.”

“Hm… I can do that. I have a few ideas I’ll have to run by a few people but I can probably get everyone marked within two weeks.”

“Great! I think that’s about it. Thank you, everyone, for coming.”

* * *

**November 18th, 1996**

**Potter Manor**

Sirius let out a less than dignified squeak and ducked to avoid the dinner roll thrown at him. He retaliated immediately by throwing a spoonful of peas at the mess of black hair across from him. They hit their target and he grinned when the hair began sparking, a grin that was wiped off his face when she silently and wandlessly made his tea explode out of the cup in front of him and hit his chest and face. 

“Hey, that’s hot!”

“You’re both children,” Regulus scowled, putting up a shield to block the entire chicken breast Sirius tried to chuck at Cassiopeia. “You’re making a mess.”

The younger boy was hit unexpectedly by a lump of mashed potatoes. He looked at Cassiopeia in horrified betrayal. “Cassie!”

She grinned and threw another roll, this one hitting Sirius’s head perfectly. Regulus narrowed his eyes and levitated a mixture of potatoes and peas, speeding it up just in time to slam into her chest. She gasped loudly and threw more food at him. 

By the time their food fight ended, all three of them were covered in food and laughing. It was a rare sight for them, and even the glares of Maria and Mipsy did nothing to lower their good moods. 

* * *

**November 21st, 1996**

**Gringott’s**

“I don’t get what we’re doing here,” Sirius sighed impatiently, following Cassiopeia and Harry to the vault in question. The goblin helping them had left upon reaching the cluster of Potter vaults, leaving them to handle their business alone. 

“Don’t ask me,” Harry huffed. “She made me leave Quidditch practice for this.”

“I don’t want to say until I know for sure,” she told them, waving at Harry. “Open the vault.”

Harry let out a dramatic sigh but did as she said, using the main key to unlock the large door. When it swung open, the three of them looked out over the large expanse of money, documents, and heirlooms in front of them. “What’re we here for?”

Cassiopeia moved over to the documents. Instead of looking through them, she waved her wand and cast a spell that Snape had taught her. “ _ Motus Tandem _ .”

“Woah,” Sirius whispered, blinking at the ghost-like folder that appeared on top of the pile. “What is that?”

Cassiopeia stepped closer and froze when she could make out the words on the file. “James and Lily Potter’s wills sealed by… Orion Pollux Black.” 

“ _ What _ ?” Sirius asked loudly, moving closer. “What the hell, Cas? How’d you know?”

She dropped the spell and bit her lip. “When I got to Potter Manor in the past, James and Lily got it out of me that I wasn’t in their wills, so James… he told me they’d go immediately and add me. Promised me. I forgot about it entirely for a while, and since nothing had changed, I sort of figured they’d forgotten. I know they had their hands full with you for a while. But then… I remembered that Dumbledore was our regent and that he wanted Harry to be miserable so he’d be willing to sacrifice himself for the war, and… it was here, Sirius. I was in their wills.”

“ _ Fuck _ ,” Harry cursed loudly. “So Dumbledore destroying it, that’s why you were sent back to the Dursley’s, why Dudley hurt you.”

Cassiopeia glanced back down at the pile in front of her. “Is it bad that… I’m sort of glad he’s going to die?”

“Fuck no,” Sirius told her. “If he wasn’t already dying, I’d be on my way to destroy him right now, kitten.”

* * *

It was later that night when Sirius and Cassiopeia found themselves in Black Manor library. Cassiopeia was researching a curse for the DA and had hit a dead end in Grimmauld Place, so Sirius had very grudgingly agreed to take her over to their ancestral home. 

“Cassie?” 

“Hm?” she glanced up from her book. Sirius was frowning deeply at her and her nerves picked up. “What is it?”

“Look, we should’ve talked about it over the summer, but…”

“What? What is it, Sirius?”

“We need to talk about Umbridge.”

Cassiopeia’s mouth opened and closed again. She closed her book and stared at her brother nervously. “Okay.”

Sirius took a minute to collect his thoughts. “I need you to tell me how often and for how long. Tell me everything.”

“Sirius… it’s not important.”

“Yes, it is,” he said, careful not to snap at her. “Umbridge combined with Regulus… it’s important to know how much you’ve been through and if you need to be taken to spell damage or not.”

“Snape takes care of me,” she told him quickly. “I don’t need to go to St. Mungo’s.”

“Cas, please.”

Letting out a reluctant sigh, Cassiopeia nodded. “It started a few detentions in. My first detention, she used a blood quill on me, but I took that from her and didn’t see them again until our final exams. She usually used the Cruciatus on me for three to five hours at a time twice a week until the DOM. Every time, I went to Snape after. He’s helped me with potions and anything else I need.”

“Why the hell didn’t anyone tell me?” he asked her, feeling sick. The more he stared at her, the more clearly he could see the long term damage from the Cruciatus. He’d seen it ever since she’d told the entire Wizengamot what had happened, but he’d only recently felt brave enough to talk about it. “Clearly Harry and Snape knew.”

“Snape did what he could to take care of me,” Cassiopeia replied slowly. “Telling you would only cause you to panic and since he’s one of my magical guardians, he didn’t technically have to tell you anything. As for Harry and my friends… I threatened them. I told them that if they told you, I’d have Snape give me private rooms and not tell them anything anymore. We argued about it a lot, but they listened to me.”

“Cassie, you can’t do that,” Sirius told her, frustrated. “I need to know what’s going on so I can protect you!”

“It wasn’t just about me,” she shrugged. “It was about handling the laws she’d put in place and protecting Harry, since he was just as pissed off as I was and she had it out for him. In any other case, Sirius, I’d have told you immediately. I was going to until I realized she couldn’t be fired. I don’t regret doing what I needed to do to protect the people I love and I know you’d do it if you were in my position, too.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re supposed to be like Regulus, not me.”

“ _ Or _ I can be my own person. And I won’t apologize for not telling you, Sirius. It’s shitty that it happened, but it did, and there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“You can promise me you won’t keep anything like this from me again,” he argued. “And I do trust you to take care of yourself, and I know you can handle it and that you’re an adult now, but I  _ expect _ you to tell me if something like this happens.”

“I will,” she promised him. “Please just… don’t tell Remus why I did it.”

Sirius scoffed. “Believe me, I wouldn’t. He’s already afraid that your animagus training, which has nothing to do with his transitions, is going to get you hurt.”

“At least he doesn’t think I’m too stupid to become an animagus.”

Sirius winced. “I’m sorry about that, kitten. Moony told me about his meeting with Snape. He shouldn’t blame you for shit I did when I was a teenager.”

“It’s fine,” Cassiopeia sighed, waving him off. “He’s not yelling at me about it anymore, he just requested I tell him when I’m going to train.”

“Do you know your form yet?” he wondered, watching her frown shift into a bright smile. 

“It’s a fennec fox, just like my patronus. I think I’m nearly able to shift fluidly, which means I’m almost done, right?”

“Yep,” he smiled at her proudly. “As soon as you can shift without really thinking about it, you’re golden.”

“I think probably a few more sessions of meditation and I’ll be done.”

“I can’t  _ wait _ to see.”

“But you  _ can _ wait to make fun of me,” she narrowed her eyes. “You make any jokes and I’ll shift and bite you. I mean it, Padfoot.”

“I would  _ never _ .”

“Sure.”

* * *

**December 9th, 1996**

**Library**

It was around seven at night when Theo sat down next to Cassiopeia and startled her into dropping her book. She looked up at him and blinked rapidly. “Theo?” To her utter confusion, he said nothing. His eyes were distant, and she frowned. “Theo, are you okay?” 

He grabbed her hand, which sat on her thigh, and she looked between the hand and his face. Despite the fact that she was a very touchy person and holding her friends’ hands wasn’t abnormal, she felt like something was off. That was confirmed when he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. 

She let out a squeak, one that was immediately cut off by a strange feeling filling her. She felt frozen in place, unable to move until the uncomfortably familiar feeling had settled. To her great confusion, Theo moved first. He threw himself back and off of the chair. 

“ _ What the hell _ ?” she asked him when she found her words. “Theo, what the  _ fuck _ was that?”

He stared at her for a very long moment before he answered. When he did, his voice shook lightly. “Mulciber.”

Cassiopeia frowned in confusion. “What?” Mulciber was visiting for the week, according to Dumbledore, to help the Ministry handle an issue with the centaurs. He was a Death Eater, that much they all knew, but she also remembered something Kingsley had told them about him. “Oh- oh. He’s Voldemort’s master at the Imperius. Did he… did he Imperius you?” 

Theo nodded quickly. “I tried, Cas, but I couldn’t even do it in fourth year and I-,”

“No, I understand,” she waved him off. “Is he still here?”

“I… ran into him in the hall,” he answered slowly. Cassiopeia reached into her pocket and grabbed the Marauder’s Map, glancing over it. She got to her feet and rushed out of the library and he followed her, mostly out of fear she’d get into a duel. 

When they turned the corner to find Mulciber walking away from them, Cassiopeia shot ropes at him and watched in satisfaction as he dropped to the ground and struggled to be free. With her dagger - not her wand - pointed at him as she stalked over, she narrowed her eyes. “Mulciber, would you like to explain why you Imperiused Theo into kissing me?” 

“Release me, blood traitor,” he snapped, glaring darkly at her. 

“ _ Veritas _ ,” Cassiopeia whispered. The purple spell shot out from her dagger, and she saw the dark charm take over the man in front of them. “Why did you Imperius Theo?”

The powerful and dark truth spell overtaking him, Mulciber answered. “So that your family would refuse to offer him asylum and we can kill him for refusing the Dark Lord.”

Cassiopeia’s eyes flashed angrily. “Aside from forcing him to kiss me, did you make him do anything else?”

“No.”

She dropped the spell but stunned him and disillusioned him. Finally, she shoved him into an alcove nearby and let out a huff. “He’s disgusting. I guess it’s good to know you’ve got a bigger target on your back than we thought, though.”

“Cas…” Theo frowned at her. “Do you know why I was able to throw it off at all?”

She shrugged. “I just assumed you’d used a lot of power to do so.”

“ _ I _ didn’t do it,” he disagreed softly. At her confused frown, he tugged her down another hall and sat down on a bench. She did the same, looking at him closely. He looked… crushed. “I’m sorry, Cas.”

“For what? You had no control. Blaise will understand. He’ll probably make a shitty joke about it, too.”

Theo shook his head and stared back at her with what she thought might be bravery. “No. I know it wasn’t my fault. But… I didn’t manage to throw it off. What did you feel? During the… kiss.”

Cassiopeia thought back to the curious and familiar feeling. “It reminded me of how mine and Regulus’s… how our… bond…” she cut off when her breath left her. She grabbed onto the bench with both hands, feeling dizzy. “Theo… do we have a bond?” 

The shame on his face answered her question. “I’m sorry, Cassie.” 

“Is it… you’re saying we have… a soul bond?” he nodded a little and she couldn’t help but feel a little heartbroken. “Oh my god. But Regulus had to enter my mind to create the bond we have. How can we-,”

“Soul bonds are different,” he answered her quietly. “I take it you never got around to researching them?” 

“No, not really. I’ve been… distracted. It didn’t seem important.”

“Soul bonds and twin bonds are the strongest type of bonds you can have,” he explained hesitantly. “But aside from that, they have very little in common. Twin bonds are the official name, but they can clearly be shared between any pair of siblings that are particularly close, like Daphne and Astoria or you and Regulus.”

“And soul bonds? Regulus and I created our bond through a blood ritual, could you or I bond to someone else like that?” 

“Twin bonds are much more common,” he whispered. “Soul bonds are… the rarest type. Once they’ve been ignited, no artificial soul bond can be formed. Nothing is stronger than a soul bond. There’s… this is it, Cassie. We don’t have a choice.”

“But… Blaise,” she whispered, tears beginning to fall. “Theo, I love him.”

“I don’t want to- Merlin, Cas, I’m not going to ask you to break up with him,” he shook his head at her. “I love you both and respect you both more than that. I’m not going to get in the way of you. It’s just…”

“What?”

“After some time… an ignited bond will sort of… push us together. It doesn’t create feelings, but… there’s no known soul couple that hasn’t ended up together after their bond was ignited the way ours was. Ever.” 

“So you’re saying… what, we’re inevitable?”

Theo hesitated. “I’m saying that we won’t do anything. Whatever happens with you and Blaise, I’m not going to get in the way, okay? You’ve got enough on your plate.” 

“You’re not… upset?” 

“I’m worried,” he told her honestly. “I’m always worried about you. But no, I’m not upset.” 

“Just… let me tell Blaise,” she requested softly. “I’ll tell him tonight.” 

Theo offered her a shaky smile. “Sure. And Cas… I really am sorry.” 

* * *

It took Cassiopeia an hour to get to Blaise. He was at Quidditch practice, and she came down immediately after talking to Theo. She sat and watched, feeling numb. 

Theo wasn’t supposed to be her literal soulmate. He was her best friend. She trusted him completely, she loved him, and she was never tired of his company. Those things seemed to her like what a best friend should be, but the more she thought about it, the more she understood how easily their relationship could, potentially, shift into a romantic one. 

But she did love Blaise. He loved her. And while she’d never really considered a future beyond the war, she thought that he might be in it. She supposed that it would depend on how he took the news at all. 

When Harry - who was Quidditch captain that year - ended practice, Cassiopeia sat back and tapped her foot anxiously to wait for her boyfriend. He’d spotted her not long after she’d gotten there, so she knew he’d find her. But when he did, what exactly would she say? She wasn’t sure how to tell him. She wasn’t sure she  _ wanted _ to tell him. But… she had to. If not for her, then for Theo. 

“Hey,” Blaise said, tossing a Quaffle at her. She caught it just in time and looked up at him with startled, wide eyes. “I thought you were gonna spend the night in the library.” 

“I… I was. Something happened, Blaise.” 

Blaise frowned and sat down, grabbing her hand. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“Hurt? What- no. Um… Theo was Imperiused by Macnair into kissing me so that we wouldn’t let him stay with us and they could kill him for abandoning Voldemort.”

“Holy shit,” Blaise breathed. “Shit, is he okay?” 

“He’s… fine,” she frowned. “Shook up. Macnair probably won’t be found until tomorrow, at which point he’ll have the choice to either report me or move on. Since Theo and I can prove what he’s done, I think he’ll move on.”

“Well, guess Theo isn’t going anywhere alone,” Blaise sighed, pushing his fingers through his hair in stress. “Where is he?” 

“I walked him back to your dorm,” she answered slowly. “Something else happened, though.”

“Huh?”

Cassiopeia sat up straight and looked at him, wishing she didn’t have to tell him at all. “The kiss, Blaise, it… it ignited a soul bond.”

Truthfully, she wasn’t sure how she expected he’d react. Part of her thought he’d be angry while the other part thought he’d look just as crushed as she felt. To her surprise, he just sighed. 

“You really shouldn’t be stressing over this now,” he told her tiredly. “As long as he kept his lips away from you, you wouldn’t have known.”

“W-What?” Cassiopeia frowned deeply. “Blaise, what are you talking about? You knew?”

“I’ve known since we were eleven, Cas,” he admitted. When she continued to look at him in confusion, he shook his head. “Remember the day you got stuck in the library with Lord Nott?”

“Of course. He told me about Sirius and Regulus and me. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Lord Nott figured it out then,” he explained to her. “I walked in on him Obliviating you.”

“ _ What _ ?” Cassiopeia asked, her voice higher than normal. 

“He told me that he stumbled upon a preliminary familial bond with you while talking. It can happen between bondmates and their families. I’d say your brothers might’ve noticed something with Theo.”

“Why the hell would he Obliviate me? And why wouldn’t you  _ tell me _ ? Or Theo, for that matter!”

“Because he made me swear not to. Aside from that… Cas, I’m selfish. I liked you. Clearly. It wouldn’t even have become a problem until you kissed and at least one of you held feelings for the other. I was confident that the situation wouldn’t come up until we naturally broke up, but obviously I didn’t think that Mulciber would bloody Imperius him."

“Woah,” Cassiopeia put her hand up. “Blaise, we don’t.”

“But you  _ do _ .”

“No, we don’t! If I had feelings for him, I wouldn’t be with you! I wouldn’t have been panicking over telling you or so scared of losing you.”

Blaise grabbed her into a tight hug, one which she returned gratefully. “You won’t lose me this easily. You could never chase me away, let’s be honest.”

“But… if you knew about it, why did you want to date me? Why were you so comfortable with me being around him so much, being so close? I don’t understand.”

“For one, Cassie, I’ve understood the situation for years. It’s given me time to get used to it and… be selfish. Be with you. It’s also allowed me to help make sure you’ll be okay with him. He’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember and truthfully, I don’t think I’d trust anyone else to be good enough for you or anyone else to be good enough for him.”

“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted in a soft whisper. “You deserve better than… this.”

“Come on, I never deserved you,” he disagreed softly, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “Tell me what you want to do, aside from ignoring this has happened.”

“I don’t know,” she said, leaning into his hand. “I want to be with you, but I also don’t want to string you along. Theo said… he said bonds will… sort of pull us together. I don’t want you stuck in the middle of that.”

“Love, I’ve been stuck in the middle since the very beginning,” he laughed softly. “But it’ll make you uncomfortable, huh?”

“I don’t want to… love you like this and feel something for him, Blaise. You deserve better than that. You deserve someone who will only love you.”

“Listen,” he said softly, taking her hands within his own. She met his eyes and was startled by the soft, sad smile. “Do you want to know what I believe about love? I believe that everyone we truly love will hold a place in our hearts forever. Little rooms devoted to these people. Maybe your biggest room will belong to Theo, but I’d like to think that I’ll have one, too. I know you’ll be in mine."

“I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered, sucking in a sharp breath to hold back the tears. 

“Never,” he swore. “It’ll be just like now, except maybe with less kissing between you and I. We can still spend too much of our time together and still love each other. You’re just free to love him, too.”

“But I wanted to love you.”

“Hey, you do,” he promised. “I love you, too. It’s like I said. We’ll always be in each other’s hearts, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she agreed, not resisting the tears anymore. She felt her heart break and wondered at how literal it seemed. The pain was emotional but she could clearly imagine her heart splitting apart. It was like nothing she’d ever felt before and nothing she ever wanted to feel again. 

_ Cas? _

Cassiopeia squeaked, her eyes widening. “Oh, god. Regulus knows something is wrong.”

“Probably tell him you’re not dying.”

_ I’m not dying.  _

_ I can tell, but you’re not okay. What happened? _

_ Blaise and I are sort of breaking up so maybe we could talk about this later? _

There was a pause before he replied. 

_ Tell me if you need me.  _

“God, I’m so glad that bond is with Regulus and not Sirius,” she muttered as he wiped away her tears. The pair fell silent for a moment as they considered what was happening. With a horrible finality, Blaise leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her lips. His familiar taste of peppermint was mixed with a bit of sweat from practice and it took all of her energy to keep from crying into the kiss. When their lips parted, he pulled her into a hug instead and the pair sat there silently, no longer a couple but still close and still heartbroken. 

* * *


	26. Stolen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not gonna say this’ll be over soon, but I will say this is the start of the end. This chapter specifically is very important to the why of what will happen. It’s a rough one, and not as great as the first version because my dumbass wrote this chapter and then…. Ah, deleted it. Like… I just deleted it like a dumbass, and then like two months later cleared out my deleted folder.
> 
> But yeah, I'm sorry for this one.

**December 9th, 1996**

**Potter Manor**

Sirius, Remus, and Regulus were all spread out in the seating area of the library with various books on the laws surrounding Ancient and Noble Houses. As they’d discussed already, it would take a great deal of time to take away the sense of immunity that the powerful Houses had. Even if it took a long time, however, they wanted to get it done. With the example of the House of Black, it was clear that the government needed to be able to interfere, if for no other reason than the safety of the children. 

“Motherfucker!” Sirius exclaimed, grabbing his head in his hands. It didn’t hurt, per se, but the feeling was like a ghost of a bond being formed, something that was extremely unsettling and rather confusing. “What the hell was that?” 

“Stop swearing,” Remus sighed. “What is it?”

“It was like… a bond was being made, but not to me,” he frowned. “Reg, did you feel it?”

“No,” Regulus raised his eyes from the large book in his arms. “You’re Lord Black, idiot. Anytime a House member forms a bond, it will be registered in your Lord Book and you’ll be warned. Don’t you remember our lessons with Grandfather?” 

“Fuck no,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “I slept through half of them. What the hell is a Lord Book?”

Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Regulus set his book on his lap. “Maria!” the elf popped in with an excited smile. “Hello. Can you please retrieve Sirius’s Lord Book for us?”

“Yes, Master!” Maria agreed. The book appeared in her hands and she gave it to Regulus, who opened it and flipped to the second page to the most recent change in the House.

“Ah…” he grimaced. “Cassie’s going to have a bad night.” 

“Why?” Sirius asked, grabbing the book from his brother. When he looked down, he blinked.

_ Cassiopeia Narcissa Black - soul bond with Theodore Nott Jr ignited _

“Oh, boy,” Sirius whispered. “Shit. Wait, I thought most families knew! How did we not know?”

“I knew,” Regulus admitted. 

“ _ How _ ?”

“I wasn’t certain until I had a moment alone with Theo, but I guessed as much when I met him. I haven’t seen a couple be so clearly meant for one another since… well, you and Marlene.”

Sirius’s eyes flashed to his brother’s. “You knew?” 

“Everyone knew,” Remus scoffed, grabbing the book from his friend. “You guys were as in love as James and Lily were.” 

“Poor Cassie,” Sirius muttered, unwilling to dwell on his dead soulmate. “Think she knows what it was?”

“I imagine Theo would tell her,” Remus frowned. “He’s a good kid. If he doesn’t, we can.”

“When the hell did she and Blaise break up?” Sirius asked, frowning. “She seemed happy with him.”

“She hasn’t,” Regulus shrugged. “Something must’ve happened.”

“Cassie isn’t a cheater, Regulus,” Sirius snapped. 

“That’s why I said something must’ve happened,” Regulus glared back. “Can we get back to work now? We can ask her about it tomorrow if we must.” 

“ _ Fine _ .”

The three did as they said, searching through books, copying pages, and scribbling down notes as needed. Despite how hard they were working and how much material they were burning through, they hadn’t actually gotten much done. The laws were written in such a complicated way to protect the Houses six ways from Sunday that it would be extremely difficult to undo. 

Around an hour and a half after the interruption of the ignited soul bond, Regulus froze. The very clear feeling of deep heartbreak vibrated through the bond. It was so strong that he had to close his eyes and focus on separating their emotions. 

_ Cas? _

She didn’t reply immediately. While he thought he knew what was happening, he also was slightly concerned that there was something more wrong. 

_ I’m not dying _ .

He couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. 

_ I can tell, but you’re not okay. What happened? _

_ Blaise and I are sort of breaking up, so maybe we could talk about this later? _

“Damn it,” he cursed, rubbing his forehead softly. 

_ Tell me if you need me. _

“What’s going on?” Remus wondered, eyeing him. “Is she okay?”

“According to her, she and Blaise are currently breaking up.”

“Shit,” Sirius cursed. “She just really can’t get a break, can she?”

“Check on her again later,” Remus suggested to Regulus. The younger man nodded quietly and glanced back at his book but focused on what she was feeling. As much as she seemed heartbroken, she also seemed… relieved. There wasn’t the sort of hopeless feeling that usually came after breaking up with someone you loved, so he had to wonder if it wasn’t as bad as he’d assumed originally.

“What about this?” Sirius asked, glancing between them and his book. “‘In times when the entire community is threatened and our survival is at risk, we may apprehend, question, or enforce normal wizarding laws on any Ancient and Noble House.’”

“Where is that from?” Remus asked, eyes wide. Sirius shrugged. 

“It was passed in 1824. It looks like there was an Obscurus being given asylum by… it doesn’t say, but I wouldn’t put it past us to do that sort of shit, try and use the poor kid as a weapon.”

“Putting something as old and weak as that in front of the Wizengamot would risk them trying to get rid of it instead of allow us to use it,” Remus pointed out. “Mark it and keep working.” 

With an exhausted sigh, Sirius did as he was told and got back to work. It was going to be an exhausting night. 

* * *

**December 10th, 1996**

**Malfoy Manor**

The large table of the highest ranked Death Eaters sat and listened to Elias Parkinson as he finally described what Pansy had told him. He’d been traveling for a couple of months and hadn’t yet been able to pass on the information. Finally, he stood tall in front of Voldemort and talked.

“Snape claimed to be Cassiopeia Black’s magical guardian,” he explained. “One of them. He told her to go to her dorm. She listened.” 

“He is her Head of House,” Avery suggested. “She is in school, Parkinson. Of course she listened to him.” 

“Ah, I would agree,” Elias raised an eyebrow. “But when we had her attacked, he pushed up curfew and threatened to suspend or expel any Slytherin to attack their classmates. Is that not suspicious?” 

“It is,” Voldemort agreed. “Very good, Elias. I will follow up on this myself. Tell your daughter she has done well.” 

“Thank you, my Lord.” 

* * *

**December 13th, 1996**

**Hogwarts**

Cassiopeia was walking out of the Potions classroom with Daphne, talking about their plans for break. When they turned the corner to leave the door, Cassiopeia stopped abruptly so that she wouldn’t slam directly into the clumsy girl walking toward her. “Oh for- Merlin, Tonks.” 

“There you are,” Tonks grinned at her sheepishly. “Sorry about that. Think I blocked out the memory of how to get around the dungeons the second I graduated, if I’m being honest.”

“Lovely to see you,” Daphne chuckled, adjusting her books. “What’re you doing here?” 

“Oh, right,” Cassiopeia sighed. “With everything going on, I forgot.” 

“Forgot  _ what _ exactly?” 

“Sirius, Regulus, and I are in a bit more danger than we thought,” she admitted. “So Amelia wants all of us to be watched at all times. I thought it was a bad idea to send someone after me since I’m in school and it would be pretty obvious, but I guess that’s the point.” 

“Yep!” Tonks grinned. “I get to follow you around all day.” 

“Wonderful,” Daphne snorted. “Well, Cassie was just telling me that she’s going to skip charms, so…” 

Cassiopeia made a face at her friend. “And now skipping class will be even safer with Tonks around.” 

“Well… I’m not in charge of your education, just your safety,” Tonks hummed. “So when Sirius finds out, that’s on you.” 

“Got it,” Cassiopeia grinned. “Let’s go. I want to get some practice in before the meeting tonight.”

“Meeting?” 

Daphne waved goodbye and walked off, unwilling to be late to class. With her gone, Cassiopeia began to lead Tonks up the many staircases to the seventh floor where she would pace in front of the wall. 

“Yeah, the DA. It’s a double meeting again, and I found this spell from a book in Regulus’s room at Grimmauld Place that I wanna teach the upper years.” 

“Er, do you think that’s a good idea?” the Auror wondered in concern. “Did you ask him about it?” 

“I did,” Cassiopeia assured her with a small laugh. “He was cleaning his room and I was just hanging out in there and looking through his books. He knew what I was doing. The spell is pretty helpful, actually. It’s like an intuitive shield. It takes a lot of energy and it’s dark magic, but I cannot fathom an argument against learning something that would protect you that isn’t ‘that’s dark magic!’"

“You  _ often _ teach them dark magic?” Tonks blinked in surprise as they entered the training room. It was set up as it always was for meetings like the one they’d have that night. Cassiopeia dropped her bag on the bench, as well as her wands. 

“I teach them what I can,” she answered, pulling out her daggers. “It’s difficult with Susan here. She’s very serious about not learning anything too dark. It’s a bit exhausting. There are light magic spells that can be just as or more destructive than the dark magic I’m teaching them. Dark and light magic are just titles. There are so many different types of magic within those and everyone seems to have forgotten that. Did you know there’s a charm that’s dark magic that can get rid of tumors?” 

“ _ Seriously _ ? That’s incredible.” 

“Yep,” Cassiopeia nodded.

From then, they talked only every once in a while. Cassiopeia took around an hour and a half to teach herself the spell and then taught it to Tonks. By the time they’d finished two hours later, students began to trickle into the room and put their things down. The group stood and waited for her to explain why she and Tonks were alone at the front of the room. 

“For those that don’t know,” Cassiopeia said, waving at her cousin. “This is my cousin, Tonks. She’s an Auror and she’s going to be stalking me for a while.” 

“Cause someone wants to kill you?” Luna wondered lightly, gathering a few looks. 

Cassiopeia blinked at her. “We’re not sure  _ what _ they want with me, but it’d be unpleasant, I’m sure. That’s not the point, anyway. She’s here, she’s going to be following me around, so stay out of her way."

“Are you gonna make us work on that stupid removal curse again?” Zacharias said with a dramatic sigh. 

“Them yes,” Cassiopeia laughed, referring to the younger DA. “You? Maybe.” 

“Cassie!” 

“No, we’ve got a couple of things to do today,” she assured him. “You guys clearly needed a break from that curse. It is pretty hard to get, so I don’t blame you. Today, we’re working on intuitive shields. That means that they sense where a curse is going to hit you and move to block it. You don’t need to aim.” 

“Is that even  _ possible _ ?” 

Cassiopeia glanced at Harry and waved him over. First, she cast the shield. After that, he threw a hair thickening charm at her. To her great relief, the shield stopped it. “Harry, if that had hit me, I’d literally shave your head in your sleep.” 

“Good thing it didn’t hit you,” he grinned. He ducked the hex she shot at him and hurried away to duck behind Blaise. The boy smacked his arm and stepped aside, but she moved on and her brother was safe. 

“Before we get to that,” Cassiopeia told them. “I was told that I need to give you a mark in the same way that the Order of the Phoenix has a mark. It won’t be very big, just a wand on the back of your neck.”

“Auntie won’t let me do that,” Susan shook her head immediately. Cassiopeia’s lips twitched in amusement. 

“Susan, your aunt is the one that told me to do this.”

“...oh.”

“It’s some runes and a charm that Snape and I made together,” Cassiopeia explained to them. “Throughout today’s meeting, I’ll be pulling you aside to put it on you. It looks a bit like a muggle tattoo, except if Draco, Harry, Blaise, Theo, Daphne, Astoria, Ginny, or I tap it with our wands, the tip will light up.”

“What’s the point of these marks?” Cho wondered. “In the Order or here, what’s the point? Just to show that we were part of this?” 

“Essentially,” she agreed slowly. “But not to brag. For Draco, Theo, and Blaise, this could be crucial. Imagine being accused of being a Death Eater and not having proof that you fought against them? That you’re  _ good _ ?” 

“So the Minister ordered you to give us all tattoos,” Terry Boot grinned. “Cool, but why can  _ she _ do that?” 

“There’s a war council,” Cassiopeia admitted. “We’re on it and she wants to make sure we protect our own. It’s important.” 

“So is Snape getting one, too?”

Everyone turned to look at Neville in confusion. He stared back at them. 

“What? He helps you with spells, he’s teaching us through you. He should get a mark, too.”

“I mean, I can  _ try _ ,” Cassiopeia blinked, thinking about it. “But the possibility of him letting me give him a mark is low. So low that he may give me detention for raising my wand at him to try.”

“Can we please get to the shield?” Dean requested impatiently. With that, the group got to work. The rest of the night was spent practicing the shield, placing the marks, and if they’d done both, they worked on the dreaded removal curse until the meeting was over.

* * *

**December 24th, 1996**

**Muggle London**

Regulus was very openly not in favor of the trip to pick up last minute presents. He’d been very vocal about how bad of an idea it was and despite a few agreements, Cassiopeia had threatened to sneak out and go on her own. So, unwilling to call her bluff, Regulus went with her.

While Cassiopeia sifted through the expansive store, Regulus wandered around as well, quietly trying to get looks at everyone else in the shop. It was a very large bookstore with two levels to it. Regulus had demanded that they stay on the same floor, but aside from that, she was free to browse. No one around was suspicious, so he just kept his wand in his hand and trailed around behind her. 

“Excuse me,” a woman said. Regulus looked up and narrowed his eyes, but she had a stroller in front of her that she was struggling to push through the shelves. She looked much too muggle, so he stepped back and turned to walk through the small aisle behind that shelf. 

It happened so quickly. Impossibly quick, really. First, there was a bare moment of panic through the bond that sent him into a sprint immediately. Right after that, he felt her drift off into a numb state that spoke of being stunned. And then, just as Regulus neared her and someone wearing Death Eater robes and a mask, they twisted on their ankle and Apparated away. 

“Fuck!” Regulus shouted. He didn’t even bother to look and see if muggles were watching before he also Apparated away, this time trying to follow the trail of the Death Eater that had taken his sister. Unfortunately, he slammed into some wards and found himself thrown about thirty feet back, only to land on his side and slam his head into the ground hard.

* * *

Cassiopeia awoke in a large, white room with beautiful furniture and paintings that reminded her of Black Manor. There were others in the room talking and she shifted to try and get a look at them, but the movement got their attention. 

“Ah, she’s awake.” 

The voice gave her shivers. It was a man, and she knew with a sick feeling that she recognized it to be Voldemort. She managed to pull herself upright until she leaned against the leg of a table behind her. Being on the left side of the room, she got a good view of everyone there. She saw a blonde head of hair and didn’t even have to see his face to know Lucius was smirking at her. Near his side was Rabastan, and behind him was a man she knew from the Wizengamot, Elias Parkinson. 

Then they parted and she saw him. Tom Riddle. Lord Voldemort. He was gliding over to her, his black robes trailing behind him. His wand was out in his hand, and she thought that was probably a pretty bad sign. 

“Miss Cassiopeia Black,” he greeted with a twisted smile. She stared up at his noseless face, eyes dark with what she hoped was well masked fear. “It is wonderful to see you again, of course.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t say the same.”

He ignored her and turned to his right. “Rabastan, go call a meeting while I speak with Miss Black.”

“Yes, my lord,” he bowed regardless of the fact that his back was turned. As he left, the others did as well, sensing his silent request to be alone. Once it was just Cassiopeia and Tom Riddle - because looking at him again, she refused to use the name he’d created for himself - he got to his knees to look at her more closely. 

“Has anyone ever told you that you look a great deal like Bellatrix?” he wondered, touching her hair. She tensed. 

“Yes, believe it or not, I’d noticed.” 

“You were meant to be mine, did you know that?” he wondered. She glared at him. 

“I know that after Regulus and I returned to this time, you threw a fit because I know things that could destroy you, so you tried to take me from my family. Unfortunately, Orion didn’t give a shit about you. He wasn’t loyal to you. The only person in my immediate relation that was so was Walburga and she was clinically insane.”

Tom stared at her and she stared back, but at his forehead. She had some measure of faith in her shields, but she did  _ not _ want to test that again. It still hurt sometimes, if she were being honest. Her mind had gone through far too much in far too short of a time. 

Tom’s eyes narrowed at her, likely for the hidden insult. “Ah, Regulus. Exactly the reason you’re here, my dear.”

“What, you think you can convince me to… betray him? Get him to return to you? I think it’s a bit too late for that. Nothing you can do will change my mind, so you might as well forget about it.”

Tom smirked at her, which was definitely not a pretty sight. “Oh, I know that. You misunderstand me. You’re not here so I can manipulate you - that train left a long time ago, I saw that when you defended him in Diagon Alley. No, you’re here to  _ punish _ him.”

She blinked, confused. “What?” 

“Oh, Regulus adored you,” Tom told her. “It was clear from the moment you were born that he cared more for you than me and possibly even himself. You’re here to make him regret everything he did.” 

“I don’t understand, how-,” 

“ _ Crucio _ !” 

She let out a scream and doubled over, her body tensing up tightly in that familiar pain. After barely a minute, he lifted the curse, and she felt all of her pain potions and muscle relaxers burned away under the torture, causing her to shake and whimper in pain. 

“That’s my girl,” he grinned. “You’re a gift, Cassiopeia. Not only can I punish Regulus, but with your mind, I can understand what that war counsel you’re in is planning. You’ll help me win the war.” 

Cassiopeia’s breath caught as she realized how much more she knew since returning to her time. The defenses they had in place, where they’d sent families in danger, how they planned to  _ fight _ , who was a part of the resistance, and even spies- which meant Snape. She tensed and redirected all of her mental energy and magic to protecting the secrets from the war counsel and, in general, Snape. She had to protect Snape. 

“I’ll be back,” he told her. He went to stand and touched her cheek on the way, making her shiver. A minute after he left the room, Dolohov and Rabastan entered, and her gut twisted at the sight. Rabastan stopped by the door but Dolohov stalked over to her and stood above her, staring down with a feral smile. 

“I never thought you’d be brought to me,” he told her in a whisper. “Aren’t you glad to be back with me, pet? Right where you belong.” 

“Fuck off, Dolohov,” she spat, pulling on the courage that she wasn’t entirely sure she actually had. 

“Feisty,” he grinned. She regretted her words as he reached down and grabbed her by her hair to pull her to her feet. “I knew I liked you.” 

“Don’t fucking touch me,” she spat, hoping she sounded even a little bit scary. “My family will destroy you.” 

“Your family can’t touch me, love,” he laughed at her. His wand came out and she stiffened, ready for whatever was to come. 

* * *

The entire Order along with Cassiopeia’s friends were in Grimmauld Place, all sitting anxiously while Snape and Regulus explained the few things they knew. Regulus’s bond mark had stopped burning for just a little bit before it started again, worse than before. Their bond was being drowned out by  _ something _ , some sort of dark magic that was painful for Regulus and likely Cassiopeia as well. 

“We have little to go on,” Snape concluded, looking at the worried faces. “Regulus claims everyone in the store were muggles, every single person.”

“I checked them all for even enough magic for a Squib,” Regulus confirmed, gritting the words out with a wince. They’d all generally tried not to stare, but his state seemed to reflect how they assumed Cassiopeia was doing, so it was hard. “No one. I’m not sure how they got in there without me noticing, but a Death Eater stunned and grabbed her and then Apparated out. I tried to follow, but I almost got splinched following the trail. They’re in a very heavily warded place. It’s certainly under a Fidelius.”

Snape hissed in pain and shoved his sleeve up abruptly to see his Dark Mark slithering around on his arm. He wasn’t the only one, though. Regulus groaned in pain, this time from the call on his arm. “Voldemort is calling a meeting.” 

“Where?” Amelia asked, getting to her feet. 

“I do not think it wise to follow me,” Snape said after a long moment. “We do not know how many Death Eaters he has there. I’ll go and if it’s safe, I’ll send a Patronus. If not… I’ll try to get her out myself.” 

“I don’t like this,” Sirius growled. “We should be there to help!” 

“If you want to get her killed,” Snape snapped back. “I shall go. If you don’t hear from me within two hours, prepare to find us both.” 

“Why?” Harry asked, speaking for the first time since the meeting had begun. 

“Because,” he looked at Harry like he was stupid. “Cassiopeia has memories of me that clearly contradict who they believe I am and who they believe I am loyal to. Do you think there’s no chance that Voldemort might force his way into her mind and see them? Perhaps she held out last time, but there is no telling what he may do to her now that he knows what a threat she is.”

Many people stiffened, but no one could really disagree. The situations were similar but also very different. 

Without another word, Snape swept out of the room, preparing for the worst. The travel to Malfoy Manor was quick and he appeared in the floo to the meeting room where a large table sat with many Death Eaters along it. Voldemort sat at the front with Lucius to one side and his other empty, which Snape knew was meant for him. He took his seat and prepared himself as the rest arrived and took their seats. Once the table was full, Voldemort called for their attention. 

“As you all know, finding Cassiopeia Black has been a level one priority for some time,” he began. “One of our muggle contacts in London spotted her today and called us. Yaxley was nearby and managed to walk over and Apparate her out before Regulus Black even spotted him. Rabastan?”

The large doors at the end of the room opened and Rabastan walked in, levitating an unconscious Cassiopeia in front of him. She had tear streaks down her face, and her hair was messy. Her body was twitching regardless of the stasis spell, which meant that the curse still lingered in her body and was overpowering the stasis charm. Her frail looking body floated into the middle of the table and stopped there. 

Snape wanted to throw up. 

She looked worse than he’d seen her since the night she’d hexed herself unconscious to avoid the Veritaserum she’d been given by Umbridge. Rabastan stood behind Voldemort’s chair and Dolohov came to stand on the other side, looking so pleased with himself that Snape had a hard time holding his blank mask. 

“I bring her here not to gloat but rather to show you what happens when you betray me,” Voldemort told them all, surprising no one more than Snape. 

It was about  _ Regulus _ ? 

His gut twisted painfully. He knew that the only person that would be hurt if he were caught was already in front of him, unconscious from torture. Because really, Cassiopeia had been right, as much as he refused to admit it. He cared for her far too much and just as she claimed he was like a guardian, like a father to her, she was… the only family he had left.

To see her so broken so often during the previous school year had nearly killed him, but she hadn’t been in the hands of Voldemort then. Now… anything could happen to her. Far too much likely  _ would _ happen to her. It took a great deal of restraint to keep from jumping out of his chair, grabbing her, and escaping. He wasn’t even entirely sure that he wasn’t going to do that. The longer he stared at her, the better that idea seemed. 

“Cassiopeia’s brother betrayed me and died for it,” Voldemort continued. “She was hidden before I could take her to punish him, but he has been returned to the living and therefore he is being punished.”

“My lord,” Mulciber spoke up, grinning. “Are you going to kill her?” 

“No,” Voldemort denied. “I will take everything I can from her and she will be tortured to the brink of death, at which point she will be returned to her family as a warning.”

Snape didn’t relax. He knew there were things far worse than death and it certainly seemed like Voldemort wanted her to experience that instead of giving her such a release. 

“Who will torture her?” Parkinson wondered. 

Voldemort’s eyes flashed, his lips curling up into a smile. “From what I’ve seen in her mind, she has a distinct fear of Dolohov and our young Crabbe and Goyle. They will be doing it.

“And if the message hasn’t sunk in yet,” Voldemort said, standing. His eyes met Snape’s for a moment, somewhat pointedly, and Snape barely had time to look down to avoid offering up his mind for viewing. He pointed his wand at Cassiopeia and it took every bit of restraint that Snape had to keep him from attacking the man. “ _ Rennervate _ .”

Cassiopeia gasped, her eyes shooting open. A whimper fell from her lips as her eyes fell on Dolohov first before traveling to Voldemort. The man stepped closer and waved at Rabastan, who moved her closer to him. Voldemort looked down at her, and she averted her gaze while he spoke. 

“Don’t forget, Cassiopeia,” he told her, shaking his head. “This is Regulus’s fault.”

Cassiopeia did possibly the dumbest thing she could do and leaned over to spit on Voldemort. Snape’s hand fell down to his wand automatically, but he managed to stop himself before he pulled it. Voldemort pointed his wand at her and instead of a  _ Crucio _ , he cast a spell that Snape didn’t know. A silvery blue light slammed from his wand into her temples and stayed there, and she tensed, her hands curling up into fists and her eyes closing tightly. 

“No,” she whispered in horror. “No!” 

“That’s right,” Voldemort whispered. “That’s your dear brother. Oh, yes.” 

“My lord,” Snape said, careful to keep his voice steady and his tone calm and curious. “What spell is that?” 

“ _ Memoria simul _ ,” the dark lord replied. “It twists her memories. Right now, she’s watching her brother torture her again.”

It made far too much sense. If he wanted to punish Regulus, what better way than to make Cassiopeia, the reason he’d done everything he’d done, believe he’d hurt her again? 

“That is all for now,” Voldemort told them all. “You are dismissed… Rabastan, Dolohov, take Miss Black to the dungeons for now.” 

After two mutters of agreement, Cassiopeia was levitated off the table and out of the room. Her eyes caught on Snape’s for a moment, and they widened, fear bright in them. He gave her a short nod, sure that no one else was watching, and saw a little bit of that fear disappear. The sight overwhelmed him. She trusted him far too much. That fact alone had him nearly pulling his wand again, but she was gone a moment later. 

The second Voldemort had left the room, he rushed to the floo and went back to Grimmauld Place, where he found everyone still waiting where they’d been when he left. He avoided Regulus’s eyes and looked to Sirius first. “She is in Malfoy Manor. He plans to use Dolohov and two students in her class to torture her to near death and then bring her back here.” 

“What students?” Theo asked, gathering his Head of House’s attention. Snape frowned a little. 

“Crabbe and Goyle.” 

Theo paled, and the potions master realized that at some point, she’d told him. Regulus shot to his feet, grabbing his wand from his pocket. “I’m going to get her.” 

“You can’t,” Snape turned to look at his old friend. His mask was nearly non existent, and that meant that his old friend who could read him on a normal day knew clearly that something was already very wrong. 

“ _ Why _ ?” 

Snape looked to Sirius again. “They want you both, too,” he lied. “You cannot go.”

“I shall go,” Narcissa stood. “I can enter the Manor without setting off the wards.” 

“She can use my Invisibility cloak,” Harry added, waving his wand to summon it. It flew into his face and he grumbled but handed it over to Narcissa quickly. 

“It will be dangerous,” he told her slowly. He knew how powerful the witch was, and how determined she was to protect those she cared for, which included her goddaughter. “Rabastan and Dolohov are with her now.” 

“I will go,” Narcissa repeated. Snape nodded. 

“I’ll walk you out.” The excuse was easily accepted and she gathered Harry’s cloak and walked with him out of the room to the floo, where he grabbed her arm. “She thinks Regulus is torturing her. The Dark Lord… I am unfamiliar with the spell, but he told me that much. He is twisting her mind. She will be in the basement.”

“I understand,” Narcissa nodded and pulled the cloak around her shoulders. “Be ready for us.”

“We will be.” 

* * *

Dolohov sat on Cassiopeia’s chest and dug in a knife, slicing off the sweater she’d put on that morning, as well as the pink bra she had on. He stared down at her with dark, evil eyes, and she let out another whimper and struggled underneath him. 

“Give in,” he suggested to her, sliding the knife across her cheek lightly. “It’s so much easier for you if you give in, pet.” 

“I’m not your pet,” she cried. She’d been unsure why she wasn’t bound, but it occurred to her that perhaps the man liked her struggling, which only made her feel more sick. “Let me go!” 

Dolohov leaned down and sniffed her, smiling a nightmarish smile. “I have to let you go, pet, so I have to get the best out of my time with you.” 

“Please,” she whispered as he rolled off of her and took the knife to her arm, causing her to gasp in pain. 

“That’s it,” he muttered as he set to work in quick, practiced movements that were no less traumatizing. “Beg.”

* * *

It was thirty minutes later when Cassiopeia lay unconscious, bleeding, bruised, and naked in the dungeons. Dolohov had been called for something and he’d left her there when he was done without bothering to even try to clean her up. 

The doors opened and she woke in a start at the loud noise. She managed to back herself into a tight, curled up sitting position by the time the gate at the bottom of the stairs opened and she waited for the light to come. When it did, she caught sight of Crabbe and Goyle both grinning at her. 

“No,” she breathed, her chest rising and falling with her quick, panicked breaths. “No.” 

“Black,” Goyle greeted, stalking over to her. “Lovely.” 

“Get away from me,” she told him, holding up her hand. Voldemort had put some sort of spell on her that had somehow blocked her wandless magic, but she had to try again. She’d tried with Dolohov, and her only hope was that the spell wore off after awhile, however vague of a hope it was. 

“I don’t think so,” he told her, leaning down to grab her by her throat. She gasped but her air was quickly cut off, and she struggled against him. She didn’t want to pass out, not there, not then. Just as the world began to fade and she felt her eyes closing, a flash of light startled her and Goyle released her and dropped to the ground himself. When she stumbled back, she saw that Crabbe was down, too, and cried out in relief. Her eyes lifted and she saw Narcissa rushing to her. She fell into the woman’s arms gratefully. 

The trip home was easier than expected as the cloak expanded to fit both Narcissa and Cassiopeia. Narcissa got her to the floo and stepped in with Cassiopeia. Normally it wasn’t a good idea to floo with more than one person, but it was an emergency. Narcissa threw down the floo powder and sent them away, specifically to Cassiopeia’s fireplace in her bedroom in Potter Manor. 

It was thirty minutes later when Narcissa finished helping Cassiopeia shower and dress. She left the girl in her bedroom and made her way back to where the large group of people waited anxiously. When she entered the room, she looked around. “She’s home. No one is to visit her aside from Severus.” 

“ _ What _ ?” Sirius jumped to his feet, furious. “You can’t decide that, Cissa! She was just abducted and-,” 

“And tortured physically and mentally,” Narcissa finished. “Some of her memories have been… warped. Severus is her Occlumency coach and he  _ must _ help her make sense of things before she sees anyone else.” 

Sirius paused. “What the hell did he do to her?” 

Narcissa met Severus’s eyes. “She’s waiting for you. I told her you’d bring the necessary potions.” 

“Which are?”

She spelled the list in her pocket into his hand. He looked down at it and felt his mask crack apart completely. “I see. Thank you.” 

Once he’d left, she looked around to see everyone staring at her still. “If you’re looking for more information, you will not be getting it from me, and anyone that pushes Cassiopeia will be hexed to death.” 

“Lady Malfoy-,” 

“That’s Lady Black,” Narcissa snarled at Dumbledore, who nodded once. 

“Lady Black,” he said cautiously. “What happened there may be a matter of concern for the Order. We do not know what sort of things he’s taken from her mind.” 

“What happened there is a matter of concern for Cassiopeia,” Narcissa corrected furiously. “And may I remind you that I am her godmother and trusted to know what is best for her, and that is not telling  _ anyone _ what she went through.” 

“Is it really that bad?” Draco asked, speaking for the first time since they’d gotten the call. Narcissa softened as she looked at her son but didn’t reply. 

“We leave her alone,” Harry told them all firmly. “We’ll leave her alone.”

* * *

Severus knocked on the door softly before opening it. To his surprise, Cassiopeia was not in bed but rather sitting on the floor, scratching absently at her arms. He moved swiftly over and kneeled down next to her, gently placing a hand on her arm to still her motions. She looked up, eyes wide and wild with fear. 

“Cassiopeia,” Severus said. “You’re home.” 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered so quietly that he barely heard her. Severus shook his head. Any anger he had at her for leaving to shop, of all things, had disappeared completely when he’d seen her in Malfoy Manor. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have… I’m sorry.” 

“I am not angry,” he told her firmly. “But concerned. Will you let me heal you?” 

She nodded silently and he set to work, casting the diagnosis spell and handing her a few potions he already knew she’d need. Not much of it surprised him, thanks to Narcissa’s warning in form of the potion at the bottom of the list. With the potions taken, he took a closer look at the list of injuries as a few of them were scratched off when the potions healed them. The worst of the injuries were mostly mental, although there were some dark curses she’d received as well, and he’d rushed to take care of those before they could do much more permanent damage. 

When he was done healing any physical injury he could - she wouldn’t let him near a couple of them, which he understood - he took in a deep breath, unprepared for the question he was about to ask. “Cassiopeia, can you tell me what you remember?” 

She nodded shortly, the double dose of calming draught working wonders on her. “I was shopping, it was just- just Regulus and I, and he took me, Professor. He took me to Riddle.”

“I see,” Severus sighed sadly. His hope that her memories hadn’t been too horribly tampered with disappeared. “What next?” 

“He told me he’s been working with him since he got back,” she said. Her voice was too detached for what should’ve been devastating words. He knew he had to work fast before the calming draught wore off. “He tortured me… for so long. You were there, and Bellatrix- she’s alive. She was there, but she looked… young. You were young, too, Professor. And then Voldemort gave me to Dolohov and he…” she drifted off, frowning. “I don’t want to say it.” 

“You don’t have to,” he assured her, already much too aware of what the man had done. Aside from the obvious, she had cuts all over her that would scar, and one on her arm was already infected. It would take days to clean that up at least, if not longer. “What happened after that?” 

“Regulus came back,” she whispered, frowning to herself as she thought. “He told me how he’d been feeding all of our information to Riddle and that we were stupid to trust him, that Sirius had been right about him when they were in school. And then Crabbe and Goyle came, but Narcissa interrupted them and brought me home. She helped me shower and asked me what happened, just like you are now.”

“Okay, thank you,” he sighed. “I would like to help you with some of these memories. Is it okay if I go into your mind and look around?” 

“My mind hurts,” she replied softly. “Everything hurts.” 

“I know. This will help with that.”

“Oh,” she looked up at him and met his eyes, though he was sure it was out of habit rather than a conscious understanding of what she was doing. “Okay.” 

“ _ Legilimens _ !”

_ Severus slipped into her mind and looked around to find Cassiopeia standing in front of a bookshelf. She had picked up a book titled “The Giver.” It seemed to be one she’d read before if the way she touched it gently said anything. Before she could drop it in the basket she held, her eyes caught on a her brother walking toward her.  _

_ “I think this for Theo,” she said. Regulus raised his wand and pointed it at her. Trusting him, she made a face. “Put that away before you break the Statute.” _

_ “We’re leaving,” he informed her. He grabbed her arm roughly and jerked her to the side. The book she’d been holding fell to the ground barely a moment before he Apparated them away. When they landed in a large room, she grabbed onto him to keep from falling. Regulus, however, pried her hands off of him and let her fall to the floor. He walked over to a familiar face - Voldemort.  _

Severus frowned at the memory and scratched at it. He barely managed to dislodge it and when he did, the other version of the memory played quickly. Cassiopeia looking up and spotting the Death Eater coming for her, him stunning her and then taking her away, and then finally her being freed and woken in Malfoy Manor. 

_ The next memory saw Regulus standing next to Dolohov and looking down at Cassiopeia with a smirk on his face. “You did this to yourself, Cassie. You brought me back. I used this chance to make up for my betrayal. What’s happening to you now - what  _ will _ happen to you is no one’s fault but your own.” _

_ “Regulus,” she whispered, struggling with her breathing. “I trust you. Please. You’re my brother. What about our bond?” _

_ “You were raised as a mudblood,” he spat at her. “You’re no sister of mine. That bond was just a means to an end - your trust.”  _

_ “Please.”  _

_ “Dolohov,” Regulus said, turning to the man by his side. “I think she’s yours.”  _

_ “You’re right about that.”  _

The memory ended and Severus pushed at it, revealing a memory of Voldemort torturing her and explaining that what was happening was Regulus’s fault for betraying him. 

_ Cassiopeia was in the middle of the same room, and Severus was shocked to see his younger self standing stoically at Voldemort’s side, a young Bellatrix there as well. He knew what he was watching, he recognized the scene easily.  _

_ This time as he watched Regulus torture her, he knew that it had happened in a sense- the memory was twisted, however. One of Voldemort’s memories combined with Cassiopeia’s own to make it look like the worst possible thing.  _

_ When Regulus was finished, Voldemort handed her off to Dolohov and she was taken to the dungeons. _

Severus shoved the manufactured memory away to reveal the meeting where she’d been levitated above the table. Severus sucked in a deep breath before jumping back into the fake memories. 

_ Regulus slapped Cassiopeia across the face, waking her. She coughed violently and some blood dripped down her chin. Her brother shook his head at her in disgust. “I knew I could do it. You were so  _ desperate _ , weren’t you? You let me torture you for three days just because you wanted to meet me.” _

_ “But you- you stopped,” she managed. “When you knew it was me. This isn’t you, Regulus. You’re  _ good _. You’re not this.” _

_ “I stopped when I was ordered to,” he disagreed. “The Dark Lord told me who you were. He told me to wait until after Dolohov had spent a night with you to stop. Wait until you got to that memory. What he didn’t know is that it wasn’t just Dolohov, was it, Cassie? He was so happy to hear how bad it really was. Didn’t you wonder how he knew how afraid of Crabbe and Goyle you are? It was me. I told him." _

_ “No,” she gasped, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Please, Regulus.”  _

_ He stepped over to her and grabbed her by the throat to pull her up and make eye contact with her. “You deserve everything that’s happened to you and everything that  _ will _ happen to you.”  _

_ Tears slipped from her eyes as she lost consciousness, the last image being that of her brother laughing at her.  _

Severus had to suck in a deep breath before he pushed that one away and saw a different one, this time of Voldemort. He pushed his way into her mind and looked at everything available, including her time with the Dursleys and nearly every other horror she’d been through. Fortunately, he hadn’t seen anything about the horcruxes or even about Severus himself. He’d cast the spell on her to change her memories and left, stunning her on his way out. 

The rest of the memories were real and he watched Narcissa save Cassiopeia before Crabbe and Goyle could really get to her. 

He pulled out of her mind and leaned back to watch as she blinked rapidly, a pained and confused frown on her face. “Cassiopeia.” 

“I- I don’t… understand,” she managed finally. She looked lost in some space between reality and a cloud of fake memories. Slowly, carefully, Snape did something he’d never done before - he reached out and took her hand within his own. She didn’t flinch or react aside from squeezing his tightly within her own. 

“Those memories of Regulus,” Severus began slowly. “Voldemort planted them there. They were not real. I just released the real ones. Unfortunately, I cannot destroy the fake ones or even put a Notice-Me-Not on them. For that, I am very sorry.” 

“Regulus,” she squeezed her eyes shut in pain. “It was him. But… no, it was… who was that Death Eater?” 

“It was Yaxley,” Severus answered. “Regulus has been here worrying about you. He was terrified, truthfully. I was with him.” 

“I don’t… there’s nothing you can do? I think… I get it, I understand,” she managed, her confused thoughts coming out in a jumble. “But I still remember the… the other version of things.” 

“We can do more work later and try to hide them away,” Severus told her. “Unfortunately, Voldemort scarred your mind when he entered once more without consent and I’ve already pressed the limits of how much it can handle right now by dislodging all of the fake memories.” 

She was silent for a minute, and he waited for her to speak again. “One of those was real.” 

“Regulus would never hurt you.” 

“But he hurt someone else,” she clarified, and Severus nodded once. 

“He did. I’m sorry you had to see that.” 

“Am I… am I okay?” 

“It might take a bit to heal completely, but you will heal.”

“And can I see everyone?” she wondered. He looked at her in surprise. 

“Regulus is with them. You want to see him?” 

“Ignoring the memories of the past day, real or fake, everything I know about him tells me that he wants me… safe,” she said. It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself of that, but the fact that she said it at all told Snape that she was doing much better than he’d expected. Although, if he were being honest, she was also much worse off than he’d expected. He hadn’t realized how many of her memories Voldemort would distort, but he supposed he’d done so in the case that they could fix her mind so that she’d be forced to live with those seeds of doubt for longer than anyone was comfortable with. “And I’d like to see them all myself. So long as they don’t…. Touch me,” she winced and looked away even as Snape nodded firmly. 

“You will tell me as soon as it is too much and I will bring you back here,” he told her. She nodded a little. “Whatever you decide to tell them is what they will know, period. I will not share anything else, nor will Narcissa."

“And… my potions, they… worked?”

“Another one in eight hours, just to be safe,” he told her, hating how familiar the words were. “After that, I will do some tests, but I see no reason why it should not work as it has before.”

“Okay.” 

Snape hesitated as she got to her feet, releasing his hand reluctantly. They stood together for a moment, not speaking or moving. Finally, he straightened. “I will be staying here for the holiday.”

“Oh, Professor, you don’t have to-,” He gave her a look that was a mix of sternness and a rare desperation. It shut her up quickly and instead, she just nodded. “Thank you, Professor. For… for everything.”

* * *


	27. Aftermath

**December 25th, 1996**

**Grimmauld Place**

They left after that and returned to Grimmauld Place. She hung back in the hall while Snape went into the kitchen to tell them what was happening. She stood staring at the door and tapping her foot nervously, feeling a bit like throwing up from her nerves. 

It wasn’t helped by the hand that touched her arm. 

She let out a scream and flinched back until she hit the door. That may have been an expected reaction after everything, perhaps, if it wasn’t accompanied by her magic picking Dung up and tossing him all the way across the hall until he slammed into the front door and fell to the ground. 

Behind her, the door opened and she found herself falling backwards. A pair of hands grabbed her to make sure she didn’t fall and she jumped again, stumbling forward this time as her magic did the same and sent Sirius flying into a nearby wall. Luckily for him, he hit the wall but was caught by Amelia, who was quick to use her wand. Finally, Cassiopeia grabbed the wall to steady herself and looked between Dung and the kitchen with wide, terrified eyes. 

Many people tried to surge forward to her, but the only person that was successful was Narcissa, who grabbed her into a hug which, to her shock, wasn’t at all terrifying and didn’t send her into any sort of flashback. Also, she didn’t send her godmother flying across the room. 

“What the  _ hell _ was that?” Kingsley asked in shock. Most others were just as confused, aside from Draco, Theo, Blaise, and oddly, Moody. 

“It can happen sometimes,” Blaise said, slowly stepping closer to her. She let him, grateful for his familiar, completely non threatening aura. He grabbed one of her hands and she gripped onto it like a lifeline, the same way she had with Snape. 

“It’s part of why I didn’t realize, because she never… did that,” Draco agreed, eyeing his cousin with wide eyes. “Again?”

“Draco,” Snape snapped sharply, smacking the back of the boy’s head even as Cassiopeia nodded quietly. The three boys looked horrified, but they weren’t the only ones. People shifted around a bit and finally, she caught sight of Regulus. 

The pair of them froze completely when their eyes met. Their bond snapped back into place and it was a horrible flood of built up emotions and, worse, memories. There was so much that neither of them could move or speak for a long minute, but when they were finally released from the odd stand off, Regulus took a step back, much too knowing for her liking. 

“Cas- Cassie, I wouldn’t be offended if you hadn’t also tossed Dung around,” Sirius called, slipping out from the kitchen and ignoring their brother. “I’m not on the same level as  _ Dung _ , right?”

“You both- you just startled me,” she explained, glancing back to where Dung was still lying on the floor. “He’s not… dead, right?”

“Nah, just knocked out,” Sirius assured her before pausing. Tonks got through and hurried over to check his pulse. 

“He’s alive!” 

Cassiopeia, suddenly feeling antsy, dropped Blaise’s hand and stepped out of Narcissa’s gentle hold. Both let her without fuss, and Narcissa gave a stern look to the crowd of adults and teenagers.

“You will return to your seats at the table and allow Cassiopeia in. I’m sure she is here for a reason, and we’ve already made this harder than it needed to be.”

“Sure, but Dung started it,” Sirius told them, waving the teenagers back to their seats. Harry hung back and when she finally began entering the room, she grabbed him in a very quick, tight hug. Upon releasing him, they also took their seats and she found herself at her usual seat on Sirius’s right. 

On her eldest brother’s left sat Regulus, who was staring openly at her with a mask that she could no longer read through. Even his emotions and thoughts felt horribly muted, like he was putting a great deal of effort into hiding away. She couldn’t help but feel even more unsure when he did that. The memory of him detailing the way he’d tricked her flashed aggressively through her mind and, just like that, Regulus dropped the wall he put between them.

And she suddenly understood  _ why _ he’d put it up. There was more guilt in him than he knew what to do with. She supposed, in her shock, she hadn’t even thought about how she’d hide the entire thing from her supposedly innocent brother. No, she tensed. Not  _ supposedly _ . He  _ was _ innocent. 

“Uh, Cas?” Sirius said softly. His mood had shifted to be calmer, more serious. It was his voice that broke through her thoughts. She realized with a start that she and Regulus had just been… sitting there, staring at each other very openly and silently. “Not to interrupt whatever you guys are discussing-,”

“We’re not-,”

“But can you share with us?” 

She closed her eyes because truthfully, she wasn’t sure for the moment that she could _ not _ stare at him. She wasn’t really sure where that urge came from aside from possibly their bond. They’d sworn their wand, magic, and lives to each other- they’d sworn loyalty and Cassiopeia’s mind was telling her that he  _ hadn’t _ been loyal, that he’d hurt her, that he’d tricked her. It made sense, in a way, that their bond was trying to force them to right things. But it wasn’t the time, not with everyone there. 

She turned to look at Snape. “I don’t know what the spell was. I don’t really know how he did it, but… Riddle twisted my mind, the memories I made. He made me believe-,”

“You do not have to tell them,” Snape interrupted her abruptly. “The fact that he has this spell is more than enough information.”

“And what if it takes some time to get rid of the fake memories?” she shot back. “What if we get in trouble one day and those memories convince me he’s- it’s a matter of potential safety, Professor. It’s not all about me and what I want.” 

“Protect yourself first, you fool,” he glared at her. “I have been trying to get that through your thick skull for six years! Protect yourself!”

Cassiopeia’s eyes flashed angrily. It was hard enough to feel strongly about what she was doing because of all of the fake memories and he was only making it harder. “Regulus is my brother! Having these memories could potentially put him in danger from  _ me _ and  _ you’ve _ been training me, so imagine me using everything you’ve taught me against him! They should know in case I just start trying to fucking attack him, professor.”

Snape shut his mouth for many reasons, none of which he voiced. The first being that the only thing he thought he could say to her to get her to shut up was not something he would ever say in front of so many other people. Cassiopeia was the only person that he would allow to see him being…  _ soft _ . Even that thought made him grimace. Aside from that, getting her worked up would only serve to mix up the memories more and leave her confused. That was proven by the way she trailed off and frowned. 

“Cas,” Sirius said gently. She looked up at him, though her frown hadn’t faded. “What are you talking about?” 

“I-,” she winced. At the same time, she felt and saw two different memories that contradicted one another - one where a Death Eater took her from the bookstore and another where Regulus took her to Voldemort. It hurt her mind trying to figure out which one was real again.

“What Cassiopeia is trying to say,” Regulus spoke up, staring only at his sister. He cared very little about ignoring their bond and its attempts to fix everything in the name of being polite. “Is that while the Dark Lord had her, he used a spell- a curse to tamper with her memories. In her memories, I took her there. I hurt her. I was loyal to the Dark Lord still. I gave her to-,” he cut off abruptly as he reached that fake memory and a piece of the real one that followed with Dolohov. It made him sick and he decided they got the point. 

“I separated the real from the fake,” Snape told them after giving everyone a moment to process this. “But as you can see, she is still very confused. I cannot remove those memories safely yet. With how damaged her mind was even before today, getting the well placed fake memories loose was dangerous at best and foolish at worst. It will be some time before I can begin getting rid of them. A week at the very least.”

“If she thinks you did this, why is she just  _ staring _ at you?” Astoria questioned, nearly whispering. She was sitting between her father and sister, and all three of them were paler than usual. “Shouldn’t she be… afraid? Angry?”

“She knows something is… not right,” Regulus explained slowly and without moving. “She’s trying to set it right with the help of our bond. I knew what happened as soon as I saw her, and now she’s trying to get in line with reality again. The best way to do that is to pull on our bond.” 

“Cassie was never one to back down from danger,” Harry sighed, putting his face in his hands. “Makes a lot of bloody sense that she’d stare down the person that she thought kidnapped her and- what did they do to her? Aside from-,”

“No,” Sirius told his godson sharply. His eyes then scanned everyone in the room. “I won’t have anyone questioning her about it. She can share as she wants and if that’s not at all, then we just won’t fucking know anything.”

“As for this curse,” Dumbledore said, startling a few people. He’d faded into the background almost as if he wanted to see how they’d deal with it themselves. “Severus, we need to know what it is.”

“ _ Memoria Simul _ ,” Snape told him stiffly. He looked to Sirius. “I will be staying with you for the rest of break.”

Sirius didn’t even have the energy to care. “Miffy will find you a room. Bring your things over tonight.”

* * *

Christmas was postponed. 

It was a decision they only realized they’d made when it was ten p.m. and they still hadn’t celebrated at all. The tree was up, presents were under it, lights were lit, but no one gave the holiday a passing thought. 

After the meeting, Narcissa escorted Cassiopeia back to her room in Potter Manor. Her friends followed over and were instructed not to bother her yet. Even Harry had been yelled at when he tried to sneak into her bedroom. Eventually, the teenagers seemed to realize they wouldn’t be seeing her that night and had gone to hang out in Harry’s room, where they were likely worrying anxiously. Maria took them each a calming draught without prompting - she was doing a lot to take care of everyone that day. 

Snape hadn’t spoken after the meeting. He’d gone to gather whatever things he needed and bring them over but hadn’t returned for many hours. No one asked why. His demeanour was dangerous, and it was clear that he was ready to hex someone’s head off, possibly literally. 

Tonks had posted herself outside of Cassiopeia’s room. She stood there for hours on end and only left to use the bathroom, and only did that after she managed to convince Moody to come help her. It was clear that the man only did it because Tonks was desperate. No one could say they weren’t glad for the extra protection, even in their own home. 

After Narcissa helped her settle in, she removed herself to go check on the teenagers and bring them some food. She also decided to magically expand the room and put more beds in there so that they could all be in the room next to Cassiopeia’s. They wouldn’t be able to get in there, but it did relax them. 

Regulus stayed back at Grimmauld Place, even after the Order and everyone else had left. No one knew why, and no one particularly cared. He was hardly their biggest concern. 

As for Sirius, he made his way into Cassiopeia’s bedroom. He closed the door quietly behind him and took in the sight. The lights were turned down low but still on, even as Cassiopeia lay in her bed sleeping. He’d have felt bad for disturbing her if he didn’t see how horribly restless of a sleep it was. In fact, as he made his way over, he realized she was having a nightmare. 

“Cas,” he said softly, but loud enough to wake her. She jolted up and grabbed for her wand. Sirius let her, sitting down on the edge of her bed. By the time she turned back, likely to hex him, some of the confusion cleared and she relaxed upon realizing who it was. 

“Sirius,” she breathed, frowning deeply. “Is everything okay?”

“I wanted to check on you,” he settled on. “You were having a nightmare.” 

She fell silent. He took the time to look her over for injuries. When Snape had brought her to Grimmauld Place, she’d been wearing a thick sweater and some pants, but now that she was trying to rest, she wore a tank top and pajama shorts. All over, Sirius saw different injuries. Some were marks of dark curses that had been partly or entirely healed but had scarred, while others were from something as simple as a knife. On her arm, he saw scars that seemed to form a word. It took a moment to figure out exactly what it said from how messy it was, but finally he could read it. 

“Pet,” he muttered to himself. Cassiopeia tensed, and when he looked up at her, he realized she wasn’t breathing. Before he could say something - what, he wasn’t sure - she spoke. 

“How did you know?” 

“Hm?” 

“That was- that was my nightmare,” she explained shortly. “How’d you… know?” 

“It’s… on your arm, kitten,” he managed, grimacing. She glanced at where he was looking. She stared at it for a long moment before looking back at him. 

“Oh.” 

Sirius took a moment to collect his thoughts. He found it extremely hard to stay focused if he were being honest. It was one thing for him to be so worried about her - of course he was, he was her older brother and her guardian, and he might’ve had a bit of a complex over protecting her after losing her for so many years, thinking she was dead - but to see everyone else just as or even more worried was… something else. 

Mostly, Snape’s reaction worried him. Snape knew Cassiopeia probably better than anyone else in her life. He knew her ups and downs, her traumas and her limits. And when he’d walked into the kitchen and looked over them all, told them that she was there, Sirius saw and felt the exhaustion, worry, and horror in the man. Snape was usually a master at keeping his thoughts and feelings hidden, but that day? That day, he’d been an open book, one that detailed how truly damaged Cassiopeia would be. 

And, looking at the girl- the  _ woman _ \- in front of him, Sirius thought he agreed with Snape. 

“Do you remember the day you left the Dursleys? When you came to stay with me?” he asked her finally. She blinked at him in confusion but nodded slowly. “Do you remember how I healed you?”

Suddenly, Cassiopeia seemed to understand. “The family magic?”

“Yep,” he confirmed. “I want to use it again. I think it’ll help you with a lot. Maybe help you clear up those fake memories even.”

“You told me it was a miracle it worked back then,” she pointed out softly. She pulled herself back to lean against the headboard and pulled her knees to her chest, holding them there with her arms. 

Sirius nodded slowly. “It was, but I needed one. You were hurt and in shock, and there were important things to be done. Now, you’re hurt a lot worse, correct?” 

She nodded slowly. “Yes, but do you really think that’ll mean it’ll work again?”

“It has to.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

Sirius took in a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. He knew she was right. And really, he knew that the chances of it working the first time had been extremely low. They’d gotten lucky once and he knew better than to assume they would again. The issue was, if the family healing magic wouldn’t work, what would they do? 

“Just let me try,” he insisted. She sighed and nodded, so he took out his wand and pointed it at her. She stiffened slightly but said nothing, so he continued. “ _ Medicas adhibere magicae familia _ .”

They both held their breath for a moment. 

Nothing happened. 

Sirius let out a string of curses and tipped his head back. “I’m sorry, kitten. I really thought it might work.”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him softly. “I just need to rest and… probably start listening to Snape more often.” 

“Well, he’s staying here, so I’m sure you’ll have no limit of input from him,” Sirius told her with a sigh. “Well, I think I have a few things I need to do, then. If you need me for anything, send me a Patronus or one of your other messages and I’ll come right away, okay?” 

Cassiopeia nodded. “Thanks for trying.”

“I love you kitten,” he told her, getting to his feet. “We’ll take care of you.” 

“I love you too, Sirius. Just don’t do anything reckless, please.”

“Me? Reckless?” he scoffed at her. “Please. I am the epitome of responsible.” 

Hearing her laugh softly as he left the room lifted his spirits slightly. When he closed the door behind him, he looked between the Auror and ex-Auror. “Unless she asks for anyone, don’t let anyone but Snape or I in here. Actually, Narcissa as well. She seems to be okay around her.” 

“We’ve got it,” Tonks promised. “Where are you headed?” 

“To Black Manor. I might be gone for a while. Let me know if anything happens.” 

“Black,” Moody said before he could walk away. He turned to glance at his old mentor, who was frowning at him. “Don’t make another mistake you’ll regret for the rest of your life. That lass in there needs you."

Sirius gave him a short, stiff nod before he walked away again. He supposed Moody’s advice made sense. The man likely assumed Sirius was planning to track down the people that had hurt Cassiopeia. It was a good guess, especially since that was on his to-do list. The difference between that day and the day James and Lily had died was that Sirius had his priorities straight. Taking care of and helping Cassiopeia was first, and then he could see to tracking down and killing the people that had taken and tortured his baby sister.

He Apparated over to Black Manor. He landed in the office that had belonged to Arcturus and noticed immediately that it was a mess. There were magical objects all over the damn place, and it reminded him vaguely of Dumbledore’s office. All of them were very clearly dark magic, and from the way that they all lit up or shifted when he arrived but didn’t kill him, he assumed they were a trap to ensure that only a Black entered, or possibly only the Lord or heir. 

“Maria!” he called. The elf popped in and stared up at him patiently. “You worked here for a very long time before Cassie found you here, right?” 

“Yes, Lord Black.” 

“Then you’d know quite a bit about where we’d keep certain things, right?” 

“Of course.”

He nodded firmly. “Then you can help me.”

* * *

Snape took the floo back to his quarters in Hogwarts. He was unsurprised when, five minutes after he arrived, there was a knock on the door. With a wave of his hand and without turning around to look, he spelled the door open to let Dumbledore in while he gathered what he knew he’d need. 

“Severus,” Dumbledore said in a warning tone. “Do not make any rash decisions. You are, after all, one of the most logical people I know.” 

Snape ignored him and picked up his bag. He moved past the headmaster and down to the potions stores, where he grabbed quite a few potions including calming draughts, dreamless sleep, extra strength pain potions, muscle relaxer, and the special potion cocktail that was used for PTSD. He’d been spending a great deal of time trying to get ahold of the last two potions and had, to his renewed horror, forgotten entirely about treating her PTSD. That was, until she’d thrown Mundungus and Sirius into walls when they startled her. 

“I understand you care for her,” Dumbledore continued, watching him calmly. “And of course, a line has been crossed. Can you tell me what they did to her? Perhaps if we knew, we could help her more thoroughly.”

That was, while infuriating, not a surprising question. Snape knew what Dumbledore had done in that meeting, the entire time they’d been trying to get her home or searching for her. The old man had sat back and let anyone else take control, just to see how things would go when he died at the end of the year. Even so, his tendency to meddle with everything seemed to be overwhelming and he’d been unable to resist prying. 

“Even so, you do understand that you cannot put yourself at risk just for this,” he told Snape, who froze in his movements. His back was to Dumbledore and he carefully did not move, waiting and silently daring the man to continue on with that line of conversation. “It was unfortunate, yes, but there are much more important matters to attend to. She will recover, and while she does that, you must retain your position as a faithful servent to Voldemort. She will be fine without you.”

Snape turned on his heel and stared darkly at Dumbledore. He closed his bag with one abrupt movement and narrowed his eyes. “For the past six years, you have told me time and time again how Harry is the important one, how he is who we must protect. You’ve told me that without our guidance, there is no hope in this war.” 

“We have valuable information, Severus.”

“So do they,” he continued, his voice getting lower and angrier. “I can count the number of times Mister Potter has gotten into life threatening danger on one hand. Cassiopeia is not as lucky. She has been in a sort of danger that Mister Potter could never be in for years now, and each time, you attempt to redirect my focus. You warn me against growing to care for her too much.”

“Attachment is dangerous in a job like yours,” Dumbledore confirmed, still holding strong to that belief. “If Voldemort knew your care for Cassiopeia he would-,”

“Do exactly what he’s already done to her,” Snape snapped, his eyes flashing dangerously. “And I was there. I saw her, Albus. She met my eyes and as soon as she saw me, do you know what happened? She was relieved. She  _ trusted _ me to save her. My attachment to her did not get her killed, it saved her.”

“Even if it didn’t happen this time, it could the next.”

“I am done listening to your advice on this matter,” he informed the older man, glaring so deeply that he didn’t leave room for argument. “If I hadn’t listened to you last year, I would have told Black about Umbridge as I originally intended to. I would have helped him get the woman fired. I care very little about how you  _ needed _ to stay away from Potter. Your ploy to stay away from Hogwarts got Cassiopeia tortured for months on end. This time, I will listen to my own opinion and go to help her until she is entirely healed.”

“Severus, if you leave Voldemort, we will have no spies in his upper ranks,” Dumbledore told him, switching tactics. “We will be entirely clueless!” 

Snape snarled and strode past him toward his rooms again. “I will not abandon my spot at the Dark Lord’s side… for now. If and when I do, however, I will not seek your judgement beforehand.”

* * *

Regulus was, at that moment, still. He had been moving for the past two hours, destroying anything in sight. He hadn’t been so furious with Voldemort since Sirius had been captured in 1978. His brother had managed to escape, but Cassiopeia hadn’t. 

She hadn’t escaped on her own, and she’d been hurt worse. Beyond hurting her physically, the Dark Lord had the  _ audacity _ to twist her memories? The very thought had accidental magic lighting the curtains on fire. He absently put it out and stormed into the kitchen to pour himself a drink. 

Without Severus, he truly didn’t know what he’d do. Through everything, Cassiopeia trusted him. She’d allowed him to take care of those fake memories to the best of his ability, and Regulus knew that it was the only reason she’d managed to sit at the same table with him. 

Their bond was helpful, of course, to an extent. It was painful being away from her because their bond required trust between the pair of them, and at the moment, she didn’t trust him. She was afraid of him. 

She hadn’t even been afraid of him when he’d tortured her. 

Despite that, he’d felt her desperation to believe the truth, to believe that he’d never hurt her. It had only made him feel so much more guilty. Truly, it was his fault. If he hadn’t given into her insistence that she had to go shopping… He shook himself slightly and poured himself another drink. 

For the first time, he found himself agreeing with Sirius - he wished he’d been braver. Braver back when it could’ve made a difference, when he could’ve denied the Dark Lord. He had no doubt that, should he have asked, Dorea and Charlus Potter would’ve helped him. He wondered what would have happened if he’d shown up at their doorstep and begged them to help him. He wondered what would’ve happened to him, to Sirius, but more than that, what would’ve happened to Cassiopeia. 

Would she have gone to James and Lily? Would they have died? Would she have gone to Lily’s muggle sister and her family? 

If he’d been braver, would she be safe? Would she be happy? Would she know peace? 

* * *

When Severus left, he left Dumbledore standing in his sitting room, staring helplessly at the floo. Dumbledore’s mind raced at the implications of their disagreement. It had been suspected, of course. Over the last six years, Cassiopeia Black had been more than the slight irritation he’d thought she was when she became Belle Potter all those years ago. No, she’d been a match for him at nearly every step. She’d protected Harry, she’d gotten her brother released and declared a free man, and then she’d had Harry adopted by their godfather. 

After that, she’d been attacked by Crabbe and Goyle. If he could change anything about that situation, he’d have had her friends find someone else-  _ anyone _ other than Snape to help her. The man had felt the first stirrings of protective fury that night, Dumbledore knew. He knew so because after getting Cassiopeia taken care of, Dumbledore had found Snape searching the school rapidly, looking for the two that had assaulted her. Luckily, Dumbledore had found him and when they’d finally found the boys, they were together and he’d talked Snape down quietly from killing two teenagers. He’d thought it was a terribly odd overreaction until he’d learned that the potions master had  _ seen _ everything. 

After that fiasco, Cassiopeia continued to ruin everything. She’d been attacked by Lily’s muggle nephew and, on the same day, revealed to be the long lost Cassiopeia Black. That had, of course, made Snape even more desperate to protect her for the simple fact that, not long after Regulus met his sister, he’d gone to Snape and begged him to swear on his wand and magic that he’d help him protect her. The loyal friend that he was, and that being the only thing Regulus had ever asked of him, Snape had done it. 

Things had gotten worse after that. Cassiopeia and Sirius took over their House, just as Cassiopeia had done with the Potter House with the help of Daniel Greengrass, who was an entirely different thorn in Dumbledore’s side. The Black family began to rise from its horrible death, this time without the people that had run it to the ground, or Bellatrix Lestrange, who Sirius made an example of and had called Judgement upon. 

The 1995/96 school year had been a clusterfuck, if Albus were being completely honest. It had been the year that he’d had to explain the link between Voldemort and Harry to Severus, and the man hadn’t taken it well. His immediate reaction was that Cassiopeia should know, rather than Harry, because she was the more responsible and productive one of the pair. When Dumbledore explained his plan to  _ use _ that link, Snape hadn’t reacted well. 

So the year had begun. It hadn’t even been a day before Cassiopeia had gotten detention and marched into Snape’s office angrily, which led to a detention where she’d been scarred with a blood quill.  _ That _ had been a mess. Snape had cleaned her up and sent her off with the manufactured words that Dumbledore had given him: Umbridge couldn’t be fired because the entire Board had hired her on, Dumbledore had no power, the ministry wanted her there regardless of her history with dangerous dark magic. There had been an expected and very long shouting session that Dumbledore had put up with after that. 

But then, the damned witch - Umbridge, this time - started using the Cruciatus on Cassiopeia. In fact, she’d hurt the girl so badly that, simply from a shock to her system, it had nearly killed her. Snape had taken her to his home to heal her, against Dumbledore’s wishes, and had only returned to scream some more and demand he fire Umbridge. That time, the headmaster had actually been able to truthfully tell him that he no longer had the power to fire her. 

And so the year went on. Every single night that Cassiopeia had detention and was tortured, Snape came into his office, ranting furiously about the situation, calling Dumbledore a slew of horrible names, some of which had to have been completely made up. 

The Battle of the DOM was a mess as well. Cassiopeia had gotten herself badly cursed and spotted by a Death Eater. Snape had spent a great deal of time working with Madame Pomfrey to heal her, and even so, it had taken her some time to fully recover. That time, Snape had been quiet. In Dumbledore’s mind, that was almost worse. He had no clue what the man was thinking. He wasn’t sure how bad it truly seemed in Snape’s mind. 

And then, Cassiopeia had gone back in time. She’d found James and Lily, but then she’d messed up and gone to Snape, and he’d taken her to Voldemort. After the entire ordeal was over, she’d brought Regulus Black back with her. Dumbledore had had quite a few drinks that night. 

Since then, she’d destroyed the Horcrux in Harry, taken away his power in the Wizengamot aside from using his own House’s seat, and had taken over Hogwarts’ student population with her well organized junior and senior Defense Associations. 

Coming up with a plan to deal with her had been difficult. Pulling it off had been even more so. She was, truthfully, well protected almost always. Luckily for him, she’d been in Grimmauld Place’s library during one of the Order meetings, giving him access to her. He’d had to think fast, so he slipped up there under the guise of using the restroom. And then he had cast four suggestive charms on her that told her she needed to go to a specific shop in muggle London to get last minute presents. He’d just barely managed to Obliviate her of having seen him up there and hurry away before Regulus had entered the room and she began talking about the shopping trip she wanted - no,  _ needed _ \- to go on. 

And she’d gone. 

But clearly, it had backfired. 

He’d tipped off the muggle spy - which they knew about and avoided regularly - about Cassiopeia and Regulus, who had then tipped off Voldemort. He’d expected Cassiopeia to be kidnapped, maybe help for some time, and then killed. 

Maybe he was getting old, but he hadn’t thought to consider what would happen if they  _ hadn’t _ killed her. If the purpose was something else, instead. So Voldemort’s meeting being called had been worrisome, but he had hoped that it wouldn’t be about her. He’d hoped wrong. Then, he had hoped Narcissa would be caught. She hadn’t been. 

Really, in the end, it had been his fault. Losing Snape’s trust in such an abrupt way was his fault. But he wouldn’t have made such a hasty move if she hadn’t already messed so much up and wasn’t a living, breathing threat to the rest of his carefully laid out plans. So much of the Order’s information came from Snape. The man’s loyalty  _ had _ to stay firmly with Dumbledore. If it didn’t, he had to rely on Snape’s sense of right or wrong in terms of the war, which he knew was a bad idea. He was a Slytherin, and he’d even yelled it at Cassiopeia that very day - he believed in one looking out for oneself before anyone else. 

So as he walked back to his office to sit and draw up another plan, he admitted to himself that trying to get a teenager murdered was maybe one of the worst ones of them all. He’d left it up to Voldemort, where there were too many variables. And with the Dark Lord’s obsession with the family, it made sense that he wanted revenge first. It was true that there were worse things than death. 

All that meant, though, is that getting Cassiopeia out of the way in time was becoming harder. Somewhere in the back of his mind he recognized that it was too late - the power lie in her hands and the hands of her family. Killing her would do nothing other than ensure they were well informed since Snape would stay as a spy. Which… he thought would be worth it. They couldn’t fight if they didn’t know what was coming, after all. Snape leaving Voldemort to protect her could cost countless lives. So, really, killing Cassiopeia would be an act to win the war. 

He had to do it. 

For the Greater Good. 

* * *


	28. Threats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I also lost part of this chapter if I recall correctly. And, like the one before last, it was definitely better in the first version.

**December 26th, 1998**

**Potter Manor**

Cassiopeia woke up numerous times throughout the night despite the dreamless sleep she’d been given. It was at four in the morning that she officially gave up on sleeping and decided to get up. 

It took her nearly ten minutes to convince herself to remove the heavy duvet lying over her for the pure fact that she didn’t want to see her body. Once it had been removed, however, she hurried to the bathroom, bringing a towel and her wand and daggers. 

The shower she took was a long one. Every time she so much as glanced at her body, she broke down. Touching it was ten times worse. At the same time, she wanted to scrub herself raw. She wanted to scrub her skin until it had shed and been replaced, and she felt like a new, better person. 

After an hour and a half of that hell, she shut off the water and finally stepped out. She ended up in front of a mirror, one that was magically heated so it wouldn’t steam up, and she found herself staring. The girl looking back at her was broken. She was scared, and she was hurt, and she didn’t want to be there. 

She’d done her very best to avoid looking at herself, and it had worked to an extent. Standing in front of the mirror, however, it was impossible not to stare. It was a full length mirror that left her entire body on view.

Finally, she took a grim look at herself. She started at the bottom, noting that her feet were possibly one of the only parts of her that hadn’t been injured. Moving up her legs, she caught sight at black and purple bruises absolutely covering her thighs and hips. The sight made her sick, and she quickly found herself throwing up. It was an expected reaction - Snape had warned her that she might react harshly after the calming draughts had worn off. 

After vanishing the vomit, her eyes drifted back to herself, still feeling sick. Her stomach had a few new scars as well, including one that was tight and deep. It had come from one of the dark curses that she’d been given, and it was one that she’d been told would cause her quite a bit of pain for a long time as there was no true cure for it. 

There was, of course, a scar from the deep cutting hex Dolohov had used to remove her shirt and bra that sat just between her breasts. She moved her eyes to her arms quickly, unwilling to dwell on it. Her right arm was littered with random scars, a few of which were dark in color from cursed blades. The left arm, however, only held a small cluster of scars, and they were also dark in color. She let out a whimper as she read the scar that had been left - “pet”.

After an eternity of staring, she continued on. She had bruises on her throat that hurt to touch from being grabbed there at the end. Bruise paste had been applied, and it had lightened the bruises slightly, but there was no bruise paste strong enough for them. 

Her face held no physical markers of the trauma she’d endured, excluding the exhaustion and pain in it. She was pale, paler than usual, but otherwise, her face was clear. 

The only thing left was her hair. 

The long, black locks flowed all the way down to her lower back. They were still wet from the shower, so it was straighter than normal. Her hair wasn’t the most painful thing to look at, but it did serve as a reminder.

It reminded her of when Dolohov had grabbed it when she’d first arrived and pulled her to her feet. It reminded her of when she’d struggled and he’d pulled aggressively at her hair until she’d stopped. It reminded her of when he’d stroked her hair gently, intimately, as if he cared for her. 

It reminded her, and it was the only thing she could well and truly get rid of. 

Cassiopeia grabbed one of her daggers from the counter and took it to her hair. Using a mixture of the sharp blade and magic, she cut it down in one swift movement until it laid an inch above her shoulders.

The abundance of wet hair on the floor was quickly vanished, and she set into drying off and getting dressed. She found herself suddenly unable to look in the mirror anymore, having already faced the demon that was looking in it to begin with. 

She stepped back into her room and grabbed some clothes - a pair of jeans and a soft, thick sweater, along with some of her most comforting fuzzy socks. When she opened her underwear drawer, she winced at the sight of her pink and favorite bra missing and instead reached for a more suppressive sports bra instead.

After she dressed, she sheathed her daggers and wand and stepped into the hall before she could wonder if she actually wanted to leave her room. Outside was a sleeping guard of Tonks and one very awake Moody. She caught his gaze and felt her eyes widen in panic. 

But Moody said nothing. Instead, he just gave her a firm nod. She took that as a sign that he wasn’t going to follow her as she’d feared and quickly made her way down the stairs. Her body ached and the bruises on her thighs screamed in pain when she walked, but she ignored it in favor of getting breakfast. She hadn’t eaten for nearly a full day, and she’d had a large plethora of potions the night before on an empty stomach that left her feeling awful. 

The kitchen held Maria, who was working on making breakfast. Maria quickly shooed her into the dining room, so she went instead of facing her wrath. When she stepped into the large room, she found Daniel sitting with a mostly empty cup of coffee and a Daily Prophet. 

“Oh,” she stared at him, wincing at the sound of her voice. It was raw and she found her throat hurt, likely from the screaming she’d done so recently. “Lord Greengrass.”

Daniel looked up at her and chuckled slightly, much to her surprise. “You’re of age, Cassiopeia. I believe you can call me Daniel now.”

“Daniel,” she corrected herself. “What’re you doing here?”

“Sirius asked me to stay the night,” he explained. She took a seat next to him at the much too large table and took the coffee Maria popped in for her gratefully. “He’s been out on… business.”

“Sure,” she muttered, sipping the hot coffee. 

His eyes drifted over her hair only momentarily before settling on her face. “Slip your guard?” 

“Moody let me go,” she shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly aware I had a guard in my own home.”

“I was told Tonks was rather persistent.”

Cassiopeia sighed and glanced at the paper. “Anything happening?” 

“Seems to be a slow day,” he disagreed, though he offered her the paper. “You were mentioned in the gossip columns, though. Something about running to Bulgaria?”

Cassiopeia scoffed and turned to the ninth page to look at it. “They’re  _ still _ on about Viktor and I. I haven’t seen him in person in two years!” 

“On a slow day, what else are they to do?” he pointed out, chuckling. She made a face at him. 

“Talk about someone else for once. Harry’s got- he’s the Boy Who Lived! Why aren’t there rumors about  _ him _ ?”

“Because he just wants to be a normal teenager,” Daniel sighed. “You’re fighting openly, loudly. More interesting to them, I’d guess.”

“Fucking stupid.”

The door opened and, as they glanced over to look, Snape strode in. He ignored Daniel in favor of coming to sit on Cassiopeia’s other side. He set down nine potion bottles before her, and though she grimaced, she set into taking them. 

“You should not have left bed,” he told her, though he was surprisingly gentle about it. Daniel took a look between them and, with a supportive smile to Cassiopeia, grabbed his coffee and left.

“I don’t want to stay there,” she said quietly once she’d finished. “I don’t- I just needed to move.” 

Snape met her eyes and stared for a long moment. “You must listen to us, Cassiopeia. You may not enjoy it, but we need to heal you. You were very badly injured.”

“I know,” she muttered. It made her uncomfortable, how serious he was. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I….” Cassiopeia looked away and squeezed her eyes shut. She was well aware of how uncomfortable what she was thinking and feeling would make him, and she wasn’t sure she had the energy to deal with it.

“I cannot help you if you do not tell me,” he reasoned. She looked up at him again and sucked in a short breath. 

“I was so scared I was going to get you killed.” 

Snape had been prepared to deal with her guilt over herself being captured, or the pain at doubting Regulus, or even the aftermath of what had been done to her. He was not, however, prepared to deal with her fear for  _ him _ . “You were in danger. I was not.”

“But they know something,” she pressed. “Pansy heard you send me to my dorm. They know you- you care for me, Professor. I thought maybe they wanted to… look in my mind, see more about you and- and I’m not confident enough in my shields. I thought he was going to see something and kill you because I’m not good enough to protect you."

“I am responsible for myself,” he told her firmly as he tried to process how afraid she’d been for him. “And I am responsible for you. Should he have seen anything regarding myself in your mind, it would not be your fault. I am your Occlumency coach. Regardless of what could have happened, nothing did. If he had found anything, I would be dead.”

“But he suspects you,” Cassiopeia told him seriously. “You know he does, Professor. Please, don’t- you can’t go back.”

Snape pressed his lips together. She had never asked him outright not to go back. In their brief conversations where they’d discussed anything emotional regarding their relationship, she’d expressed concern over him remaining, but she had never requested he leave. That, along with the fact that he no longer wished to give Dumbledore any information at all, had him considering. “I am the only spy.”

“Who  _ cares _ ?” she frowned at him darkly. “You’re no good as a spy if you’re fucking  _ dead _ !”

“If I remain, I may recover information that could save your life,” he countered. “Attacks on you or your family and friends.”

Cassiopeia stared at him with frustrated tears prickling at her eyes. “I looked at you. I thought- I wasn’t sure if you were real. I thought you might already be dead, but you weren’t. Don’t go back. Next time, you could die.”

Snape met her eyes again to show her how serious he was. “There will not be a next time, and that is because I will stay. Next time, we will protect you first.” 

“ _ Not if you’re dead _ !” she snapped at him loudly. Her hair began to spark and the tears began to fall as she jumped out of her chair and stalked from the room angrily, leaving him alone with only his thoughts, regrets, and empty potion bottles.

* * *

Regulus woke that morning at the kitchen table in Grimmauld Place. His head rested partly on his arm and partly on the hard wood, and there was a puddle of firewhiskey under his face and arm, and a tipped over bottle in front of him. 

He groaned and lifted his head slowly, noting absently that he was still drunk. Despite that, he got up to figure out what time it was and what he’d been doing before he’d passed out. He quickly found a few rather destroyed heirlooms and was abruptly reminded of what had happened the day before. 

Cassiopeia. 

Guilt flooded him, as well as anger. 

He wasn’t angry with Voldemort - it seemed pointless to be angry with the monster. Instead, he was angry with himself. It had been his poor decisions that had caused everything. If he’d been braver, just as Sirius had wanted, none of it would’ve happened. 

If he hadn’t listened to his parents.

If he hadn’t joined Voldemort. 

If he hadn’t betrayed Voldemort twice. 

If he hadn’t left Cassiopeia when she was a baby. 

It all came down to him, he knew, and it ate at him as he moved into the sitting room down the hall. He’d never been angrier at himself. He knew she would not be injured, her mind a mess, and hurt in so many of the same ways she’d been hurt before had he been  _ better _ . 

He’d promised to protect her. He’d called her his Solis, and he’d sworn to protect her, and he’d failed. 

The thought of returning to Potter Manor for any reason was one that pained him. He knew that seeing him would confuse her, hurt her, and it was the last thing he wanted. Their bond may help it, but it would only do so after so long together. Immediately after getting home, he couldn’t do that. 

The guilt that weighed on him was heavy, but the anger with himself was heavier, and it sent him into the same fury he’d been in before he’d passed out hours earlier. 

He grabbed a vase nearby and threw it against the wall, cursing his five year old self that had decided to be so studious in the Dark Arts lessons they’d been given. The vase smashed loudly, throwing pottery pieces all over the floor. 

He tossed a letter opener at the mirror hung on the wall, remembering the way he’d attached himself so heavily to the dark families Walburga had wanted him to befriend at Hogwarts. The mirror broke and fell to the ground. 

He tossed a bombarda at the couch, thinking of the day he’d been approached by Voldemort over Christmas break in his fifth year. The couch blew to bits, some of which broke many other things in the room, a few pieces of wood even giving him splinters. 

He lit the coffee table on fire at the memory of how he’d done every single thing Voldemort had asked of him, going so far as learning to torture from Bellatrix. The flames roared and spread down to the floor quickly. 

He hit the wall to the left of him that led to the kitchen with a Flipendo Tria and tried to forget stealing the locket and, worse, being given Cassiopeia to torture. The curse, which could be described as a mini-tornado, began tearing up the rest of the room.

It was at that point that the door blew open and Sirius ran through, his wand up. “Motherfucker, Regulus!” he shouted. While Regulus didn’t reply, or even stop throwing curses, Sirius began putting out the fire and calming the mini-tornado. It took him nearly ten minutes to do both things alone, all while trying to make sure Regulus didn’t get hurt. When he was finally done, he disarmed his brother and glared at him. “Are you fucking  _ stupid _ ?”

“Go away,” Regulus glared back at him. “Cassie needs you.”

“Cassie needs us both, you fucking idiot,” Sirius snapped. “She’s at home, feeling your stupid guilt and anger and thinking- Merlin  _ knows _ what she’s thinking, but she’s not doing great. You need to get your ass home and  _ help her _ .”

“I’m not going to do anything to help,” Regulus denied. “I’m what got her hurt to begin with, Sirius. I thought you’d be the first to be pissed at me.”

“I  _ am _ ,” Sirius admitted plainly. Lying would’ve been useless, considering the younger man could already tell as much. “But Cassie isn’t, and your guilt complex is just making things worse, so get your ass over there.”

Regulus rubbed his face in frustration. “I can’t.”

“She wants to celebrate  _ Christmas _ ,” Sirius stared at him. “You’re going to make her spend her first Christmas with all of her brothers alive and free without you? What kind of selfish asshole do you have to be?”

“ _ Christmas _ ?” Regulus stared. “After everything she just-,”

“Yeah, we all think she’s insane, too, but she insists. It’s the only fucking reason I’m here. Narcissa’s coming next if you don’t get your ass over there and she’s prepared to hurt you.”

He quieted. “It’s my fault.”

“I know."

“How can I just go over there and see her despite that? Why do you even think I should?”

“Because she wants you there,” Sirius said shortly. “And because it’s your fault, but you’re still… our brother, and a good person. You fucked up bad, and I want to curse you to hell and back for it, but I can’t. We gotta do what she wants for now, got it?” 

Regulus glanced around at the mess around them and grimaced. “I think I might need a sober up.”

* * *

Cassiopeia sat on the floor next to the tree and waved some presents to the correct owners. Just as she set down one meant for Theo, the floo flared up and deposited her brothers. Her eyes settled on Regulus, and relief flooded through her at the sight of him. It took a concentrated effort to focus on the relief rather than fear, but as she met his eyes, she realized what he’d been doing, and she scowled at him. “If anyone gets to lose their shit, it’s me. Sit down and open your presents.”

“Cassie-,”

“She said sit down,” Sirius reminded him, pushing him forward. “Get over yourself and open the fucking present.” 

So, he did. 

It was nearly ten minutes later when Harry finally spoke to his sister, unable to hold it back any longer as they watched Tonks open a gift. “Why’d you go shopping?” 

“ _ Harry James _ -,”

“I don’t know,” she said quietly in reply, cutting off her eldest brother. Tonks’ movements had stilled, and everyone was looking at her, though she looked to Regulus. “I just… I felt like I had to.”

“You said you didn’t have a gift for Theo,” Regulus reminded her softly. She frowned at him. 

“But I did,” she denied. “I got him- well, he hasn’t opened it yet, but I got him something  _ months _ ago. I had to order it ahead. Why would I go to a muggle bookstore for his gift?”

“You insisted, Cas,” he disagreed. “You said you’d completely forgotten. Remember? During that Order meeting, you told me you had to go  _ immediately _ . I barely got you to agree to wait until yesterday.”

She shook her head at him, getting upset. “I had a gift, Reg! I’ve had it wrapped. It’s been under the tree!” 

Snape, who sat to her left, raised his wand at her with a dark frown. When he waved it over her head, he stilled, fury filling him. 

“What?” Sirius asked him anxiously. “Is she okay?”

“Multiple suggestive charms,” Snape answered shortly. “Heavy ones, telling her to get Mister Nott a Christmas present in that bookstore in muggle London.”

There was a heavy silence as everyone processed what that meant. 

“So this was more than just a random chance,” Tonks said, looking at her younger cousin in concern. “This was a very purposeful attack.” 

“Why just Cassie?” Daphne pointed out. “If someone managed to get to her, why just her? Why didn’t they grab Regulus as well? Why not convince her to bring Sirius, too?”

“Yeah, Voldemort has a pretty bad grudge against all of you,” Astoria agreed. “Why just Cassie?”

“Can you tell who put it there?” Draco asked his godfather nervously. “It had to be someone she can get close to. Someone she trusts.”

The implications of what he said hit them all - there had to be a spy somewhere. 

“Not again,” Sirius growled angrily, his eyes flashing at the thought of another Wormtail. “We’re not doing this bullshit again. Cassie isn’t going to die, too.”

Snape waved his wand again. When that didn’t seem to work, he met her eyes and she nodded firmly. 

“Go ahead.” 

A few long moments later, he pulled out of her mind, frustrated. “She has been Obliviated. It seems whoever did this did it during the most recent Order meeting before she was taken.”

“So it’s someone that was there,” Blaise gathered. “Who was there?” 

“It was a rather large meeting,” Daniel reminded them. “It could be any Order member.”

“Not any of them,” Cassiopeia disagreed softly. “I trust everyone on the War Council. I trust the Weasleys.”

“Emmaline and Dorcas are trustworthy, too,” Sirius added. “I went to school with them. They were really close with Lily, and I know they see her in you, Cas. They wouldn’t do it.”

“That leaves the rest of the Order,” Harry frowned darkly. “What about Dung?” 

“Prohibited from leaving the kitchen in Grimmauld Place,” Regulus spoke up. “After Cassie tried to suffocate him with the wards.”

“Who else was there?” Narcissa questioned, eyeing her goddaughter in concern. 

“Diggle, Doge,” Sirius began slowly, thinking back. “Hestia, Abe, Albus, obviously. That was it, aside from us.” 

There was a beat of silence before Harry spoke again. “Well, we know the answer.”

“Um, we do?” Tonks blinked at him. “Who was it?”

“Dumbledore,” he said. 

Sirius sighed and rubbed at his face. “He’s a right cunt, sure, but I’m not sure he’d set Cassie up to be taken, Pup. He’s old and dying. What would he get out of it? The war is our responsibility now.” 

“But you don’t get it,” Harry insisted. “He’s always hated her. First year, he tried to sneak into her head! And didn’t you say Orion put protections in her mind against Dumbledore? Obviously, your dad thought he was dangerous.” 

“Well, sure, but Orion never liked him,” Sirius reasoned. “The number of times I heard him ranting about Albus- I just can’t see him trying to do something so…”

“Well, then who else?” Harry wondered, frustrated. “He’s the only person that we know has something against her.” 

“There’s an explanation,” Sirius assured him. “I don’t think it’s Albus, but you all need to be careful around him. Don’t allow yourself to be alone with him ever. That stands for the other Order members, as well. We’ll look into this.”

* * *

**December 27th, 1996**

**Potter Manor**

Cassiopeia sat in her bedroom with her book in front of her and her dagger in the hand that lay in her lap. She’d been in there alone for hours and had refused to come out for meals. 

Her friends had decided to stay for the entire break, unwilling to part from her. That included Daniel, who had told Sirius in no uncertain terms that he would be staying to assist them in any way they might need. It had been deeply appreciated, and he was given rooms that would be reserved for him any time he decided to visit. 

Despite the fact that there were so many people there for her, Cassiopeia found herself unwilling to see any of them until the more obvious injuries had healed up. Her friends being Slytherins, they didn’t gawk at her. No one had even questioned her haircut, save for Harry, who had been smacked by Astoria and promptly changed the subject. 

Her quiet time was interrupted by a hesitant knock on the door. It didn’t surprise her, and she waved the door open with her dagger and glanced up at Regulus as he entered her room. She sat at the table by the window, and he came to sit with her quietly. 

The pair took the moment to indulge in the bond, and she used it once more to remind her that he wasn’t going to hurt her. Being able to see and feel his every thought left her feeling better, and she found herself relaxing. 

He’d come to her room every time he felt her tensing in fear or anxiety or horror - any of the numerous things she’d felt in response to the fake memories that lay in her mind. 

Cassiopeia and Regulus each felt a deep guilt. Regulus’s guilt was for the fact that she’d been hurt because of him, while Cassiopeia’s was because she  _ trusted _ him, and it killed her that some fake memories could make her doubt that trust. 

A stray thought of Regulus’s startled her into frowning at him darkly. “Don’t leave.” 

His wince gave away just how strongly he’d tried not to think about the idea, along with the pain he felt. “Cas, you were supposed to be safe. I was supposed to  _ keep _ you safe. I haven’t done that. I put you in more danger than you were in before you met me.”

She shook her head quickly. “I was never going to be safe, Regulus. Having you here means I don’t have to wonder about you, what our family would be like… I know Sirius is pissed at you for what happened, but I’m not. He’s just got issues with his anger. You can’t go.”

“It would be safer for you.”

“ _ Bullshit _ ,” she snapped. “If you left, you wouldn’t have to wonder over how I might get hurt, or that if I did get hurt, it could  _ possibly _ be your fault. You’d be a coward. You don’t get to leave us because you’re guilty, Regulus.”

“Cassiopeia, you’re afraid of me.”

“Because a maniac twisted my memories!” she glared at him angrily. “And guess what? They can be fixed. Snape’s going to be here in an hour for our first session, and I know it would help for you to be here. You can’t- I’m not going to be afraid of you forever. I sure as hell am not afraid now, because I’m just angry.”

“Cassie-,”

“I’m angry because Orion gave me away,” she cut him off. “I’m angry because the Dursley’s hurt me. I’m angry because it took me so long to get to Sirius. I’m angry because I found you, and now you want to- to leave me. You can’t just- you can’t give me a family and- and take it away. You can’t do that, Regulus, you don’t get to.”

“Okay,” he said quickly when she began to cry. Slowly, he moved over to hug her, but he stopped hesitating when she tossed herself into his arms and cried against him. He held her tight to him and was assaulted by the aggressive release of emotions she felt. The pain, physical pain was unbearable, and it was accompanied by the complete self loathing she felt. Her disgust was prominent, as was the hatred toward the people that had hurt her. There was a sort of grief directed toward the person she used to be, the person who hadn’t gone through so much. And there was just an overwhelming sadness that had him holding her tighter. 

It was very clear that it was the first time she’d really let herself feel everything and let it out, and while he wasn’t sure he was the right person to be there, he refused to leave. 

She made it clear she needed her brother, so he held her and let her cry and resolved to focus once more on her instead of his own guilt. 

* * *

Sirius rubbed his forehead tiredly, staring down at the parchment in front of him. The letter had barely been started and he already felt too exhausted to continue it. It had been a long two days and he wasn’t sure how he could continue. It was possibly the first time he’d wanted to sit down with his grandfather and pay attention to the man’s lessons on how to run a family in a time of war. 

Since Arcturus was dead, he did the next best thing and sent off a message. Five minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Daniel made his way into the room. Grateful, he waved the door closed behind the other man and offered him a nod. 

“I’m sure business can wait a couple of days,” Daniel suggested, eyeing the parchment in front of him. Sirius looked at it and back at his friend. 

“Not business. I’m… I’m pulling Cassie out of Hogwarts.” 

Daniel’s brow furrowed. “Have you discussed this with her?” 

“Of course not,” he sighed. “She’s fucked up. She doesn’t need to be stressing over school right now. I’ll tell her in a few days.”

“So you made the decision on your own,” he gathered with a sigh. “She’s not going to like it.”

“I don’t give a shit anymore,” Sirius said bluntly. “Kid keeps getting in danger.” 

“Yes. What makes you think you can keep her safer locked up here than at school with her friends?”

“She won’t be in class with Death Eaters, for one.”

Daniel shook his head. “She won’t like it.”

“I’m her guardian,” Sirius said firmly. “It’s not her decision.”

“She’s seventeen, Sirius,” he disagreed. “It  _ is _ her decision.” 

Sirius cursed and sat back in frustration. “She’s my baby sister, Daniel. What the hell do you suggest I do? She’s fucked.”

“I suggest you let her go back to school, because she will return either way,” the other man said slowly. “Don’t damage your relationship with her because you’re scared for her. She won’t take it well.”

“She’s my  _ sister _ ,” Sirius stressed. “I know what’s best for her.”

Daniel took a moment to gather his words, careful not to set off Sirius’s temper in the time of little patience. “I met Cassiopeia when she was twelve. She has never been one to back down from danger. Asking her to do so will not end well for anyone involved.”

“How did you do it?” he asked softly. “How’d you help her?” 

“I guided her,” Daniel said honestly. “I gave her the full truth of the situation and showed her the options available to her, as well as my opinion on what was best. Attempting to control her would never work.” 

“What if she makes the wrong decision and gets hurt again?” Sirius wondered. “How do I- I can’t let her… die.”

Daniel grimaced. “She very well may get hurt again, Sirius. We’re in a war here, and the three of you are at the center of it. There’s no going back on that anymore. You need to have open conversations with her, tell her what you’re thinking and feeling, but make it clear that you will not control her. I’d guess she’ll listen to you more if you try it that way.”

Sirius looked down at the parchment before him and balled it up to throw in the trash can. When it settled inside, he let out a curse. “I was never going to have kids, you know. James and I talked about it when they got pregnant. The only kids I ever wanted to take care of were Harry, Cassie, and Tonks. It was never supposed to be- I never imagined I’d actually have to raise teenagers.” 

“I’ve found that the most important part of raising kids is remembering that they’re actual people,” Daniel told him. “That might seem obvious, but remember that she should have a say in things. Now that she’s seventeen, any decisions you make on her behalf will only happen because she allows it to. Open up a good line of communication and you may find that you can work together to keep her safe.” 

Sirius gave a firm nod. “Right. Okay. I can… probably do that.”

* * *

**December 29th, 1996**

**Grimmauld Place**

It was the first Order meeting since Cassiopeia had been returned, and they were all on edge. There had been discussions on whether or not she should come, but she told them she would be, but that she’d stay with Tonks and Regulus both. 

The meeting began with numerous members checking on her, and she’d taken the time to assure them all she was fine. It was a lie, of course, but she did  _ seem _ relatively fine to them, so they moved on. Dumbledore led the meeting, as usual, and began with what had happened in the last few days, which wasn’t much.

Snape had left early that morning for a meeting with Voldemort and only returned thirty minutes into the Order meeting. He wasn’t given a chance to sit down and instead was requested to update them with anything new. The man glanced around the room until his gaze fell on Narcissa. “Crabbe and Goyle Jr were both killed on Christmas.” 

Cassiopeia’s eyes shot to her godmother. “You… killed them?” 

“I protect my family,” Narcissa said firmly. While Cassiopeia was unwilling to hug the woman in front of everyone, she reached out and grabbed her hand to squeeze it tightly in thanks.

“Miss Black’s escape has infuriated the Dark Lord once more,” Snape told them, glancing to the three siblings. “She has a high price on her head, and the Dark Lord insists he be the one to kill her.”

“Congrats, Cas, you’re at my level now,” Harry told her. She let out a snort and rolled her eyes at him. 

“Just like I always wanted.”

“I believe the Dark Lord is suspicious of me,” Snape continued. “I was not given much important information, aside from those things. I intend to spend more time at Malfoy Manor to earn back his trust, but there is a chance I may be forced to leave the Dark Lord soon.”

“Good,” Cassiopeia muttered. Only Regulus and Severus heard her, and they both glanced at her for a moment. She had her arms crossed over her chest and looked deeply frustrated with the man. 

“Well, thank you, Severus,” Dumbledore said with a tight smile. “Now, if we can move onto family movements…”

* * *


	29. Beginning Again

**January 3rd, 1997**

**Hogwarts**

Sirius had done as Daniel suggested, and he’d spoken with Cassiopeia. It had been a difficult conversation in which she’d gotten frustrated, and he’d broken down and expressed to her just how afraid he was for her. In the end, just as Daniel had predicted, she’d insisted she go back to school, though she had finally admitted to her brother that she was afraid, too. 

The train ride was nerve wracking, and there were whispers about the two missing sixth-year students that were supposed to be in the Slytherin section of the train. No one answered the questions, and Cassiopeia’s group stayed to themselves for the most part. 

It was fifteen minutes before the first DA meeting back from break, and Cassiopeia was watching Draco set up the room while they argued. She was supposed to do as little magic as possible, which meant letting her friends do things for her. She didn’t enjoy it.

“I just think you’re being emotional and reckless,” Draco stated for the fifth time while he waved a bench to the back of the room to make space for the large meeting ahead - it would be both groups again, and that meant they needed more room. 

“I think you’re being an arse about it,” she replied with not nearly as much energy as she should’ve had. It worried him, but it was nothing new. She’d seemed so constantly  _ tired _ since she’d been rescued and no one knew how to help. “I have my reasons, Draco, so drop it.”

“Look, it’s important for them to know,” he continued, despite her request. “Knowing what happened to you could show them how fucking serious this war is, Black. We need them to know what they’re getting themselves into.”

“I’m not going to stand in front of them and tell them about the worst day of my life,” she whispered. “They don’t need to know  _ that _ much.”

“Fine, but when they’re kidnapped and tortured and murdered, that’s on you.”

Silence fell between them. Draco immediately knew what he’d said was unfair and possibly too far, but she took his words to heart. It  _ would _ be her fault, wouldn’t it? She was the one training them, after all. She was the one encouraging them to get involved and fight, to stand up for what was right. 

She’d done that, and she felt just how deeply they could be hurt for herself. She knew the things they could and would do. She’d gotten lucky that Voldemort hadn’t looked too deeply in her mind, because she knew he could’ve. She knew he probably would’ve, had he not already known what she knew, at least bits of it. 

The door opened, sparing her a response, and students began pouring in. They continued working, this time silently, for the next ten minutes until everyone had arrived. Only Cassiopeia and Draco stood at the front, the rest of their friends having spread out through the group to mingle.

“Welcome back, guys,” Cassiopeia began, looking out at them. “We have a few things to go over before we start today. I want to give you an update on how things are going, war-wise.

“Did something happen?” Cho asked nervously. Cassiopeia tried to give her a small smile. The Chang family had been moved to a safe house after word of a potential attack reached them. By the time they’d left for school again, Cho’s family was still hidden. 

“Your family is fine,” Cassiopeia assured her. “But something did happen. To… to me, actually.”

“Damn it, Black, why’s it always you?” Seamus made a face. “What the hell happened to you now?”

Cassiopeia glanced at Draco. He gave her a firm, supportive nod, so she looked back to the crowd and sucked in a breath, feeling and looking sick. “I’d like to remind you that your oath will keep you from sharing what I’m about to say with anyone outside of the DA.”

“Just tell us.”

“I was kidnapped,” she said finally. Some people tensed, and some whispers broke out. “Multiple strong suggestive charms were placed on me, telling me I needed to get Theo a Christmas present. Then, I was Obliviated of who put them there. The only reason we ever realized it happened was because I got Theo’s present  _ months _ ago.”

“What’d you get him?” Lavender wondered. Cassiopeia ignored her in favor of continuing. She was already shaking and knew it was a bad sign - she’d barely told them anything yet. 

“I told Regulus I needed to go to a shop in muggle London, and he could come with me or I’d go alone. We went and I was taken by a Death Eater to Voldemort, who is even worse than he was before. I was hurt,” she looked over them. Some of the students were young, and it gave her pause. Should she tell them what happened? They needed to be aware of that could happen to them, but they were so  _ young _ . 

At that thought, she couldn’t help but remember what she was like as a first year. Young, yes, but able to handle what came at her. Prepared and angry. 

“I am going to tell you what they did to me,” she said slowly, looking out over the group. “Not because I want your pity or because I want to scare you, but because I need you all to understand that what happened to me could very well happen to you. I will answer any questions you have, but only because it’s important. Understand that this is never something I’d tell you, were it not relevant to the war. Please keep this in mind while asking your questions.”

“Cas, are you sure?” Harry frowned at her, pushing forward from the crowd. She offered him a small smile and pulled him to stand on her other side. She grabbed his hand within her own and, comforted by it, began. 

“I was taken from the bookstore to Malfoy Manor, where Voldemort was waiting for me. He taunted me, he told me why I was there, and he tortured me.”

“Fuck,” Dean cursed. “He must have a hell of a torture.”

“Not as bad as I’ve felt before,” she said absently. “A meeting was called, and by the time it started, I was- things were bad. I’d been tortured for what I think was an hour and a half, and I was barely awake. There were some dark curses I’d been hit with, but I couldn’t say what they were. I didn’t ask. I was brought into the meeting and Voldemort- fuck.”

“You don’t have to,” Neville told her from the crowd. She offered him a grateful albeit shaky smile and willed herself not to be sick. She hadn’t exactly detailed what had happened since the day she’d been rescued, and she found herself teetering between panicking and going numb - both horrible options, but one was better than the other, so she embraced the numb feeling in an effort to continue. 

“Voldemort twisted a lot of my memories,” she said, suddenly looking much calmer than before. It startled everyone and concerned many. “He made me believe that everything that was being done and that would be done… was done by Regulus. He handed me to Voldemort, he tortured me again, he- he gave me to-,” she stopped. “They’re fake is my point. My brother- they’re fake.” 

“Sounds sort of like you’re trying to convince yourself, not us,” Ernie said. It wasn’t said out of malice, but rather slight concern. 

“My mind is a… mess,” she said softly. “With the way it’s been invaded before, the scarring, the manipulation from Orion, and the way those fake memories were hastily removed- it’s difficult. It’s going to take time for them to fully disappear, and in the meantime, I’m…” she breathed out in frustration, prompting Daphne to take over for her. 

“Cassie’s memories are confusing her. Some say her brother’s a dick, while the rest say he’d fucking die for her. Being around him helped because of their bond, but at school, it’s harder.”

“Thank you,” Cassiopeia nodded slightly. “And I’m sure these memories had the exact effect Voldemort wanted them to. He wanted to cause confusion and doubt, mistrust and even fear. Tear us apart.”

“Smart,” Anthony shrugged. “Even better than destroying your family himself is you guys destroying each other.”

“I was…” Cassiopeia hesitated, looking over them. They knew she’d been attacked by Dolohov before, but not in what sense, because she didn’t want them to. At the same time, bearing the trauma for them could save their lives. “I was given to Dolohov. He took me to the dungeons, where-,”

“Cas, maybe-,”

“Where he raped me,” she said, much too matter of fact. She was still calm as ever, but very clearly detached, even to those that didn’t know her well. The entire group fell silent for a long moment before a hand went up in the air. She looked at the young girl, who was twelve at most. “Yes?”

“What does that mean?”

“Shit,” Draco cursed. “These kids are too young.” 

“No, they’re not,” she told him. Her gaze turned back to the young Hufflepuff. “Have your parents told you what sex is?” 

“Mmhm,” she nodded. “They said they won’t tell me about it here.”

“Well, rape is when sex happens, but one person doesn’t want it to,” she said simply. “It means he did those things, but I didn’t want it.”

“But what’s sex?” 

“Fucking Merlin,” Draco cursed as the first-year boy looked around in confusion. 

“This was your idea,” she reminded him quietly. “Sex is a very intimate thing that people do sometimes with their bodies. It’s about pleasure and consent. It’s a really big deal if there’s no consent. It’s very, very bad."

“Shit,” Ginny cursed loudly. “Shit, this is what he did before, isn’t it? Oh, fuck.”

Cassiopeia looked out over the group. There were at least sixty kids in there that she knew, and more that she didn’t. “I am telling you this because this is war. If you choose to involve yourself in any fighting outside of the DA, you need to be aware of the things that could happen to you. Dolohov has something against me, yes, but I have no doubt he wouldn’t do it to someone else. You have to be careful, aware, and prepared.”

“What happened?” Padma asked quietly. “After, I mean. Are you… did you use potions?”

She nodded. “Snape gave me all potions I needed for anything that happened. There’s a bit more, however.”

They watched her silently, all with wide, horrified eyes. 

“I know a lot of people noticed that Crabbe and Goyle are missing,” she said, looking out as they nodded. In one swift movement, she waved her hand at her throat and removed the  _ very _ heavy glamour that had been placed over it to disguise the bruises. “After Dolohov, I was given to them. They intended to do the same that Dolohov had done, but Narcissa found me while they were choking me and got me out of there. She killed them.”

“Holy fuck,” Michael cursed under his breath. “But they’re kids. They’re our age.”

“They attacked me in my third year,” she told him. “They did rape me then, and they beat me nearly to death. If I hadn’t managed to get into Slytherin, I  _ would _ have died.”

“Your third year?” a younger girl asked, looking afraid. “I’m in third year.”

Cassiopeia considered her. “You have that communication spell down, Sabrina. If anyone tries to hurt you, use it. Send me a message and I’ll come beat the shit out of them, okay?” 

She nodded, looking slightly comforted. 

“So Narcissa saved me, she got me home and cleaned up, and then Snape came and gave me potions and healed me before he displaced the fake memories. We’ve been doing Occlumency nearly daily since then to help get rid of the memories. Again, I tell you this to let you know what could happen, not to scare you or ask for pity. I need you to understand."

“But…” Cho shook her head. “You didn’t tell us why this happened. Why didn’t he just kill you?”

“Because that wasn’t why he wanted me,” Cassiopeia admitted. “At least not this time. He wanted me because he was still pissed about Regulus abandoning him for me. He wanted to hurt me and send me back to Regulus as a warning - this is what happens when you betray Voldemort.”

“That’s why he fucked with your memory,” Terry stared at her with wide eyes. “To punish Regulus. So that Regulus could’ve abandoned him, but you still wouldn’t trust him.”

“We assume so,” she confirmed. “Any questions?” 

“Yeah, why didn’t Draco’s mum kill Dolohov, too?” Colin asked, standing next to Dennis. 

“Because he’d already left,” she shrugged, though the question hit something deep in her. “She had to sneak into Malfoy Manor with Harry’s cloak and use it to sneak me out of there. I guess they didn’t even realize I was gone until Crabbe and Goyle never came back.”

“Couldn’t Snape have gotten you out of there?” Lavender wondered. “I mean, he is a Death Eater. Was he willing to let you die?”

“He wasn’t,” she said, her jaw tightening. “He organized my being saved, from what I can tell. He’d have been killed if he just grabbed me in the middle of the meeting and tried to escape. I did… for a second, I thought he was going to. His hand moved, and I thought he was going to pull his wand, but he didn’t. It’s for the better. We’d probably both be dead if he’d tried."

“And you’re not even healed yet,” Hannah commented, looking troubled. “How bad is it, Cassie?”

Cassiopeia grimaced. “I won’t lie, I don’t feel great. These bruises- they won’t go away, even with bruise paste applied twice a day since the day it happened. Some of those curses fucked me up a bit, and I’ve got some really shitty scars. Aside from that, my magic is weak and my mind is shit. I’m- basically, I’m fucked until I heal, and that might take time. Until then, I won’t be using much magic.”

“Wait, but I’ve got a question,” Ginny frowned slightly. “Where’s Tonks? Isn’t she still supposed to shadow you?”

Cassiopeia glanced around the room with a small frown. “Tonks went insane and is now nearly as vigilant as Moody. She’s here somewhere, but you’re not likely to find her if you try and if you do, she might curse you. Happened to Harry yesterday.”

“Shit, that’s kinda creepy.”

“Yeah, she’s got a mean stinging jinx,” Harry grimaced. “I don’t recommend it.”

“So what’re you guys gonna do?” Neville wondered. “If you don’t know who set you up, I mean. Do you know when it happened?” 

“We do,” Harry confirmed when she hesitated to fill them in more. Harry was of the mind, however, that they all needed to be aware of what the old man was willing to do. “I think I know who it was, too, but Sirius disagreed.”

“It happened during an Order meeting,” Cassiopeia told them.

“That means it could’ve been basically anyone,” Dennis pointed out. 

“Not exactly,” Harry shook his head. “There are some people we trust completely, like everyone on the war council. We trust the Weasley’s too, plus Sirius went to school with Emmaline and Dorcas, and he trusts them. Dung was there, but Cassie tried to murder him with the wards when she caught him stealing shit, so he’s not allowed out of the kitchen anymore, and she was Obliviated in the library."

“So who does that leave, then?”

“There’s a few we don’t know well that could’ve been Imperiused into doing it,” Cassiopeia allowed. “But it seems unlikely. There was someone that… he isn’t very fond of me, and if he’s more annoyed about me fucking up his plans than we thought-,”

“What she’s trying to say is that it was Dumbledore,” Harry cut in, gathering some stares. 

“We don’t know that for sure,” she said tiredly. The energy it took to talk to the DA was more than she’d expected. Then again, everything seemed to take more energy than it used to lately. “I mean, he’s got better things to do than try to get me killed, and either way, no one saw him leave the kitchen that day.”

“He was awfully quiet while you were gone,” Blaise reasoned, frowning darkly at the theory once more. “I mean, quiet as in he said nothing, really. Let us deal with it.”

“Bastard’s gonna die soon and he knows it,” Astoria cut in. “He probably wanted to see how it’d go without him there, y’know. Manipulative cunt though he is, I’m not entirely certain he’d resort to turning Cassie over to Voldemort.”

“But on the opposite argument, what’s to stop him?” Daphne argued. The friends hadn’t discussed it since they’d first found out, leaving them to argue in front of everyone else. “I mean, even if he got caught and went to Azkaban, he’s going to die soon. He might see it as worth it, getting rid of the girl that keeps fucking up his life. It really just depends on how pissed he is at her, I’d say."

“It doesn’t really matter. I’m telling everyone this because I don’t want any of you alone with him for any reason whatsoever,” Cassiopeia interrupted, looking out over the group. ”If he tries to get you alone, get out of there and find me or one of my friends immediately and we’ll handle it.”

There was a collective nod of heads, so she nodded firmly. 

“Well, now that we’ve dealt with that… time to duel.”

* * *

**January 8th, 1997**

Classes were uncomfortable. While no one from either DAs had said anything to anyone - their contracts restraining them from doing so - it seemed that all of the teachers knew what had happened. Daphne had gently suggested that Cassiopeia was, perhaps, a bit paranoid. Despite that, she was tense as she made her way through the castle. It was only when she was making her way to the Room that she realized she  _ wasn’t _ being paranoid. 

“-about Black,” a voice said. It was late at night and the halls were nearly empty. The voice came from one hall over, and Cassiopeia found herself stopping in her tracks to listen, forcing Tonks to stop as well. “Acting like everything is normal. I heard she killed Crabbe and Goyle.”

“How could that have been her?” someone else replied. “From what happened, there’s no way she got out of there without help from Merlin himself.”

“Yeah, but have you seen her?” the other person replied. “She looks ready to snap. The Dark Lord will be pleased.”

“I thought his plan was bullshit,” he admitted. “Driving her to the brink of insanity like that. I was sure nothing but hours of torture could do it.”

“Be a bit more creative,” the other chuckled. “Gets boring if you aren’t.”

“So what’s the plan tomorrow? Didn’t get all of it before I had to come back here. Transfiguration quiz.”

Cassiopeia stepped back against the wall and quickly disillusioned herself when they rounded the corner. Being in the shadows, the disillusionment was more effective than usual. Tonks did the same, and she silenced them both so their breathing couldn’t be heard. 

“We’ll be masked,” the taller man said. “Come in during ancient runes at two. We’ll take all of the students, but we  _ have _ to get the Blacks. Miss any of them and we’re dead.”

“Getting you into the castle again is going to be difficult,” the shorter man said. Cassiopeia got the vibe that he was a student, where the tall man had graduated. “Those tunnels are guarded sometimes. I see students there a lot.”

“So curse them, kill them, I don’t care,” the man huffed. “Just get them out of the way. We’ll be there at one-thirty to prepare.”

They rounded another corner, firmly placing themselves out of ear shot. Instead of immediately lifting the spells, Tonks grabbed Cassiopeia’s arm and pulled her through the castle until they reached and entered the Room. Finally, they both removed the disillusionment and Cassiopeia began pacing, ignoring the large group gathered. “What the hell do we do?"

“Don’t go to class,” Tonks said. Cassiopeia stared at her, irritated. 

“ _ Thanks _ , I didn’t figure that out for myself,” she snapped. “We can’t let them in the castle, Tonks.”

“They’re prepared to kill,” her cousin replied sharply. 

“Guys!” Harry put his hands up. “What’s going on?”

“Just overheard some Death Eaters,” Tonks explained quickly. “They’re going to sneak into the castle and take all of us.”

“By all of us, do you mean… the entire school?” Neville asked with wide eyes. Cassiopeia shook her head at the group. 

“Just everyone in the History of Magic class tomorrow,” she said. “Which happens to be Harry, Tonks, Draco, and myself.”

“Very conveniently every Black in the school,” Ginny summarized. “Coincidence?”

“Not at all.”

“So… we’re going to skip class tomorrow, then,” Blaise gathered. “What’s the plan for them getting in the castle? We gonna guard it?”

“Absolutely not,” Cassiopeia stared at them. “We know how to fight, and we will, but not tomorrow. We’ve got enough resources to guard the tunnels while we stay safe in here. I’m going to have Harry, Draco, and our friends lead this session while Tonks and I go home and set things up.”

“But we don’t really need them,” Astoria pointed out, earning herself a slight glare from Tonks. “I just mean we’d be plenty.”

“The point isn’t to make you fight,” Tonks sighed.

“We don’t  _ want _ you guys to fight,” Cassiopeia agreed, her adrenalin driving her. It was the most alive she’d looked in weeks, and they noticed. “We want you prepared. If we’ve got enough to cover ourselves, then we sure as hell will stay out of the fight, especially when we’re the targets.”

“But won’t they find out that we know if we bring the Order in?” Susan wondered. “And then they’ll change their plans.”

“What d’you mean?” Dean wondered, confused. 

“I just mean that if we bring the Order into the castle to guard the tunnels, they’ll find out and change their plans to something we can’t predict,” she explained. Cassiopeia paused to consider the thought. 

“Like I said, we’re going to figure it out. We’ll probably call an emergency war council, so your aunt will be there. Worst case, we either evacuate the school or hide everyone in the Chamber. We’ll figure this out.”

“Well if you’re going, what’re we gonna learn today?” Ernie asked her. 

“I want you guys to work on teamwork,” she said, looking over the group. “Specifically, duel casting. Come up with different combinations of spells, charms, hexes, and curses that you and a partner or group can cast together at your target for a worse, quicker effect. It’s brutal, but important. We haven’t gone over it much yet, but it’s important we start. I want you to start by partnering up with someone you’ve never worked with before. Come up with good combinations, and then switch after fifteen minutes.”

“Why are we switching? Wouldn’t we work better if we had more time with our partners?” Anthony frowned at her. “I mean, fifteen minutes isn’t much time.”

“Well, the point isn’t to be perfect at this with one partner. The point is to be able to fight successfully with anyone in the DA at the drop of a hat. It’s an important skill, and it could be a major advantage during any battles we’re in together. I need you guys to be able to flawlessly work with people that you don’t know or even don’t like or hate. This is survival.”

“But we need to go,” Tonks said before they could start asking more questions. “So she can work on it with you later.”

Cassiopeia waved goodbye to them and, with Tonks at her side and matching her fast pace, slipped from the room. They used the floo in Snape’s office to get to Grimmauld Place. The man demanded to come with, so the three of them stepped out into a room with Sirius, Regulus, and Narcissa. “Oh, good.”

“Cas?” Sirius got to his feet at the sight of them. “What is it? What happened, Snape?”

“I am wondering just that.”

Cassiopeia put a hand up and explained quickly. It didn’t take long before Sirius and Regulus both had matching, dark looks on their faces and Snape had tensed at her side. “I told the DA to stay put and that we’re  _ not _ fighting, but we need to work something out. If they can get in, what’s stopping them from taking the castle?”

“I’ll call Amelia,” Narcissa decided. She slipped from the room and returned three minutes later with a frowning Amelia Bones. The situation was repeated to her, and everyone took seats around the table. 

“Susan made the point that if they see us arriving, they could change plans,” Cassiopeia explained. “But… I have an idea. A bad one, but it’s the best one I can think of.”

“What is it?” Snape asked, eyeing her suspiciously. She frowned at him. 

“We’ll need access to a large batch of a hard to brew potion. I have some, but we’ll need more.” 

“What potion?” 

“Polyjuice.”

* * *

**January 9th, 1997**

The day started out normally. They had breakfast, went to their morning classes, and went to lunch. It was then that Cassiopeia began sending messages to some students. Once seven of the DA kids had left, she slipped out of the Great Hall, where she knew Moody was waiting for her, Disillusioned, and they made their way up to the Room together. 

“There she is,” Sirius smiled at her. He ruffled her hair and looked around. “We’re all here, right? Harry and Draco are still at lunch with Tonks?” 

“Yeah, she’s under Harry’s cloak,” Cassiopeia confirmed. “Is everyone ready?” 

“I’m not sure what the plan is,” Neville said nervously. “Is this about the attack later?” 

“I brought all of you here because you’re not in ancient runes. We need a piece of each of your hair so some of us can Polyjuice into you and wait around the tunnels,” Cassiopeia explained. “That’s why the Order is here.” 

“Does Dumbledore know this is happening?” Dean wondered. “Y’know, with…”

“No,” Amelia answered him. “Until we can be sure he didn’t put the charms on Cassiopeia, we have to assume he did it for her safety.”

“Yeah, but you said it was an Order member,” Ginny pointed out, looking at them suspiciously. “So how d’you know it’s not them?” 

“We trust them,” Sirius said firmly. “Emma and Dorcas would  _ never _ hurt Cassie.”

Both women nodded. 

“Adopted or not, you’re Lily’s daughter and it shows,” Emmaline told Cassiopeia firmly. 

“She was our best friend… like a sister,” Dorcas agreed. “Plus, you’re a kid, and it’s fucked that anybody would put you in danger. If Dumbledore  _ did _ do that, I’ll beat the shit out of him.”

“Dorcas, Emmaline, Remus, Amelia, Bill, Charlie, and Moody will be Polyjuicing themselves into students - you guys - to stand guard and arrest the Death Eaters invading,” Cassiopeia recapped. 

“There’s seven of them but eight of us,” Luna said. 

“That’s because Daphne’s going to Polyjuice into me,” Cassiopeia said, gaining stares and immediate disapproval from Order members. She raised her voice to be heard above them. “And I’m going to help.”

“Like hell you are!” Sirius exclaimed, immediately angry with her. “Jesus, Cas, Snape is right! You  _ want _ to be in danger!” 

“I  _ want _ to protect the people I’m responsible for!” she snapped back. “They don’t deserve any of this shit!” 

“And you do?” Regulus asked her quietly. Her eyes flew to him and they were wide as she tried to come up with an answer, but he already knew how she felt. “You’ll stay with me.”

“No,” she shook her head quickly. “You guys have to get out of the castle. If you’re here when this happens, nearly the entire family is here to be taken! All three heads, we’re not  _ that _ stupid, Regulus.” 

“Hey, I was going to stay up here,” Sirius put his hands up. “Y’know… control center and all that. What he does is none of my business.”

“But it  _ is _ !” Cassiopeia said angrily. “Because he’s our brother, and despite how we run this family, you’re still Lord Black and he’s your responsibility. You’re just pissed at him because you think it’s his fault I’m fucked up.”

“It is!” 

“Is this what a family meeting is like?” Seamus snorted, whispering loudly to Dean, who elbowed him in response. 

“Cassiopeia,” Regulus said quietly, looking ready to stun her. “You will not go down there to fight if you are not with me.”

“Reg-,” she cut off when he gave in and finally stopped suppressing his end of their bond. Her eyes shut tight at the feeling of absolute terror at the idea of her fighting them or being taken again that came from him. “O-okay.” 

“Can we remember that there’s no way in hell I’ll let you down there?” Sirius asked, amused. The look she gave him didn’t do much to help her case. “Cas, I don’t even know half of what they did to you, and I won’t ask. All I ask is that you let us keep you safe. That means not putting yourself in danger when we have plenty of people to cover it.” 

“Cassie,” Daphne said softly. “He’s right. Please.”

“It’s like you said last night,” Neville spoke up. “The point isn’t to fight just cause we can. Let them do it because they can and they should, right?” 

“But-,”

“Please,” Sirius frowned down at her. “Stay up here with me.” 

Cassiopeia looked around at the people watching her and realized it was everyone in the room. The elder Weasleys stood on either side of Ginny, and all three were looking at her with deep concern. She looked away and back at Regulus. “Fine. Fine, but you should hurry. It’s almost one and they said they’d be there at one-thirty.” 

“Everyone got their potions?” Moody asked. When they’d all pulled out potion bottles, he nodded. “Pick a kid and let’s get going.”

“I’ve got your potion, Daph,” Cassiopeia said. She pulled the bottle out and handed it over. “It’s already got a hair in there.”

“Drink up,” Moody called out once everyone had a hair. “Watch out… tastes like goblin piss.” 

It didn’t take long for everyone to change into their selected students. It was weird to everyone to see two of the same person in the room, but it didn’t last long as the Order students dispersed and went to their ordered tunnels to wait. 

Daphne, disguised as Cassiopeia, went back to lunch to tell their friends Daphne had gone back to their dorm because she wasn’t feeling well. Their friends would be filled in later, and they probably knew something was wrong, but they had to wait. 

Sitting and waiting for something to happen with her brothers was agonizing. No one really said much - well, Cassiopeia and Regulus didn’t. Sirius, on the other hand, was rambling nervously as he paced in front of the couch his siblings sat on. 

“-saying, there’s no reason we can’t flee to America-,”

“They’d find us-,”

“I heard they like British people-,”

“Only if they’re nice-,”

“Besides, it’s a bit ugly here this time of year and I, for one, could use a change of scenery-,”

“For the love of Merlin,  _ shut up _ ,” Cassiopeia snapped finally. He stopped short and turned to stare at her. “Just say it, Sirius. Just tell me what you’re thinking because this is insufferable. At least I  _ know _ what Regulus thinks about what I do.”

“Cas-,”

“I can’t fucking handle you trying to fill the space like that’ll make everything okay,” she continued, her hands shaking at her side. “Everything isn’t okay. I’m not okay, and I’m never going to be okay again. They’re going to capture me again-,”

“No, they’re not!”

“And they’ll keep torturing me and maybe then they’ll finally fucking kill me,” she finished, getting to her feet. “And I don’t feel like living in denial until then, so please, just drop the act already.”

Sirius stared at her in shock. “Cas… it’s gonna be okay.” 

Cassiopeia scoffed loudly and turned to leave. He began to follow after her, so she waved her empty hand at him and sent some bluebirds at him. It gave her time to get away and use a nearby passageway that didn’t leave the castle - it just led down to the Great Hall. Relieved to be alone, Cassiopeia made her way out of the Hall and down the corridor. She came across the guard at the One-Eyed Witch statue, which was Ginny - or rather, Charlie. He looked at her in confusion. 

“...Greengrass?”

“No.”

He immediately looked alarmed. “Cassie! You could get killed!” 

“It’s almost time,” she said, frowning. “I’m not going away, so just talk to me like we’re two kids out of class.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” he insisted. She shrugged carelessly and paced by the statue. 

“It’s a little weird, you know, you being a teenage girl.”

“Don’t change the subject,” he pressed, frustrated. She turned to glare at him. If she didn’t have the patience for Sirius, she didn’t have the patience for Charlie. 

“You people need to  _ stop _ ,” she snapped. “Me being here won’t change anything. What happens will happen anyway, so just get the hell over it and  _ let me help _ . You couldn’t help me anyway so I’ll help you.”

Charlie fell silent as he looked at her. She should’ve looked angry, considering her words, but she didn’t. She didn’t even really look tired. She just looked… numb, like she didn’t feel anything despite the heated words. “Cassie-,”

The statue began to groan as it moved and the two set aside the conversation to grab for their wands. Cassiopeia held a wand in each hand and they waited, but when the statue had moved entirely to the side, they saw… nothing. 

“What?” Charlie turned to look at Cassiopeia, and she did the same. “ _ What _ ? Is that even possible? I thought it moves when you get close.”

“It does,” she muttered, glancing over her shoulder. “I don’t see anyone disillusioned, so I’d assume it’s-,”

“A trap,” Charlie finished. She nodded, still looking over her shoulder. “Cassie.”

She looked back to find a wand pointed at Charlie’s face. She stared at Rosier as he smirked at them and knew what she had to do. She pushed Charlie out of the way and, despite Rosier immediately cursing her, cast the Killing Curse. He dropped to the ground, dead, and she didn’t even take a moment to make sure her friend was okay before she surged into the tunnel and began casting curses at the people in the tunnel. 

Charlie quickly followed her, calling her name as she cursed down the tunnel. Three people had dropped to the ground by the time she began dueling the last Death Eater - Rabastan. 

They traded curses quickly. A few went through her shield, hitting her, and she managed to return the favor. She was backing him down the tunnel and hadn’t realized how far they’d moved when he finally twisted on his ankle and disapparated- apparently, they were outside of the wards. 

Cassiopeia cursed and ran back down the tunnel toward the castle. When she got in, Charlie had turned back into himself and was standing with Bill. She looked between them and walked off, not bothering to talk. 

* * *

“You should’ve seen it,” Charlie sighed, rubbing at his face. “She’s like a different person. Reckless.”

“Like we didn’t get that from her running off in the first place,” Sirius muttered. Charlie shook his head. 

“You don’t get it. Rosier had a wand to my face and she still attacked him. He could’ve killed me when she did that and it’s like it didn't matter to her. She killed him with no hesitation and just… kept going. Two of the others were dead by the time Bill got there.”

“Yeah, and it wasn’t exactly a painless death, either,” Bill frowned. “She used some brutal dark curses.”

“That’s not right,” Regulus frowned to himself. “She was devastated after she killed Rookwood. She was horrified she’d put thought into killing him.”

“She’s different,” Charlie sighed. “She’s trying to get herself killed and it’s going to work.”

“I know,” Sirius shook his head. “But I don’t know what to do. She’s angry.”

“Yeah, that was another thing. She yelled at me. She’s never done that before. I mean, in the few years I’ve known her, we’ve never even had a disagreement.”

“She yelled at me too,” Sirius admitted. “She’s angry with us for trying to protect her.”

“No, she isn’t,” Regulus disagreed. He was staring down at his hands, his lips thin. 

“What? Of course she is. I mean, did you hear her?”

“Did you?” He shot back. “She’s not mad because we’re trying to protect her. She’s mad because we’re  _ failing _ to protect her. She’s mad because after all these years being abused by person after person, she’s with a family that never wants to see her hurt and it  _ still _ happens. She doesn’t think she could ever be safe and she doesn’t care if they kill her. Not anymore.”

Charlie and Sirius stared at him, but Charlie spoke. “How much of that did you guess… and how much do you know from your bond?”

Regulus stared at him. “I’m going to find my sister and make sure she hasn’t killed herself yet. While I’m gone, you’d better come up with a damn good plan to protect her.”

* * *


	30. Devolving

**January 9th, 1997**

**Dungeons**

Snape was pacing around his classroom watching students brew when he just happened to glance out the door. What he saw had him throwing the door open and stalking down the hall. It took him only a minute to reach Cassiopeia, and when he did, he wrapped a hand around her upper arm and, despite her cursing wildly, dragged her into the classroom and then his office with her blood trailing after them. He shoved her into a chair and spelled the door shut. “What the  _ hell _ do you think you’re doing?”

Cassiopeia stared up at him silently and furiously, her arms crossed over her chest. He stared back, waiting patiently. After a couple of minutes like that, she scoffed. “You have class to teach, professor. Don’t worry about me.” 

“Don’t-,” he stared at her incredulously. “Are you aware you’re injured?” 

Her eyes drifted down to scan over her body. She found her stomach, hip, and left thigh bleeding, all rather badly. She wouldn’t admit it to him, but it was a surprise to her. “There was a fight. I won.”

“Black-,"

“You have sixth-year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in there that you’re supposed to be teaching,” she reminded him. “Don’t worry about me. I’m not your problem, Professor, they are.”

Snape looked furious. “Who cursed you?” 

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to answer, but she figured if he healed her, there might be a better chance of getting him away from her quicker. “Rosier. Rabastan. Someone else, but he was down before I could see who he was.” 

“You were not supposed to participate today,” he lectured as he pulled his wand to heal her. She didn’t reply - she just sat there, angry and silent as he worked. 

* * *

Regulus ran through the dungeons, following the blood trail to the potions room. When he threw the door open, he found students whispering. One noticed him and got to his feet. 

“Black,” he said. Regulus wasn’t sure who he was and he wasn’t sure if he even cared right then. “Snape dragged Cas in here cursing. I think she’s hurt. She’s definitely pissed.” 

Regulus gave a sharp nod and made his way to the office. He opened the door and stepped inside to find Cassiopeia glaring darkly at Snape while he twisted his wand over her bleeding stomach. Shaking his head, Regulus grabbed his own wand and moved to the other side of her chair to start working on her hip. 

None of them spoke as the two men healed her up. When they were done, Snape left the room and returned moments later with some potions. He thrust them at her and she grabbed them but didn’t move to take them. “Black, take them.”

“No.”

“ _ Black _ -,”

“Severus,” Regulus shook his head. The two shared a look before Snape turned on his heel and swept out of the room, slamming the door behind himself. Regulus grabbed the potions from her hands and set them on his friend’s desk. “Cassie, look at me.” 

She did. That was a good sign. 

“What were you thinking?” he asked her, paying close attention to the bond. She was angry, and the question made her angrier. 

“I was  _ thinking _ that someone needs to protect these kids. This school.”

“Yes, but that’s why you came to us,” he pointed out. He knew Sirius would likely be overly gentle with her right then, but that wasn’t what she needed. She hated people acting like she was about to break, even if it was true. “We brought in the Order, Cas. They could’ve handled it.”

“No, they couldn’t,” she glared at him. “Charlie was there alone. He didn’t see the trap coming. Because I was there, I was able to kill Rosier before he could hurt Charlie.” 

Regulus shook his head at her. “He told us how it happened. You put him at risk, moving like that. Rosier could very well have moved before you did and killed Charlie.”

“Well it didn’t happen, did it?” 

“And those others… Cassie, you killed four people today. Do you understand that?” 

“Do you  _ want _ me to feel bad for protecting the school? These students? It’s my job!” 

“Don’t you remember Rookwood?” he asked, frowning. She didn’t seem to feel anything but anger, even at the reminder. “You were crushed, Cas.”

“And you told me I’d have to do it again,” she replied sharply. “And I have. It’s fine. I’m fine, Charlie’s fine, and we’ve got four less Death Eaters out there now.”

Regulus shook his head at her. “You’re not right, Cassiopeia. Something’s wrong with you.”

That was definitely the wrong thing to say, and he realized that almost immediately when she sat forward and her hair began to spark. “I was tortured, Regulus! I was tortured for hours and hours, and when they were done with that, Voldemort paraded me in front of his followers as an  _ example _ . He twisted my memories, hurt my mind, and then gave me to Dolohov so he could rape me.  _ Again _ . I’m never going to be right again and you need to just get the  _ fuck _ over it because you can’t change it.”

“You want to die.”

“I want to save my friends!” 

“You don’t have to do that by being a martyr!” he snapped back. She didn’t reply, so he took a second to calm himself. “You saved me, Cassie, I just want to return the favor. I need you to let us help you. I know what this is about and I’m  _ sorry _ . I should have been there. Sirius should have. James and Lily should have. Father should have. A lot of people have failed you, and it’s not right, but you can’t give up on the future. This war will end and you’ll be safe.” 

Cassiopeia didn’t believe him, he knew, but she did look at him and seemed significantly less angry. “I need you to promise me something.” He waited, so she took in a deep breath. “Kill him. Please. I can’t- please.” 

Regulus took her hand within his own and met her eyes to convey how serious he was. “Cassiopeia, I will not rest until he is dead. I can’t- we both know I can’t promise he won’t hurt you again. It’s war, and he’s obsessed with you. I can promise, however, that I will make him suffer twice as long for every second he’s made you suffer. He will beg for death and I will not grant it.” 

Part of them both knew that what he’d said should’ve been alarming in some sense, but it had her relaxing slightly. “How mad is Sirius?”

“Not mad right now,” Regulus shook his head. “Just scared. Later… you know how he is. Apologize now, even if it isn’t genuine. Make it  _ seem _ genuine and he probably won’t yell at you later."

Cassiopeia hummed. “Sometimes I forget you know each other better than I do.” 

Regret and guilt rang through him. “It shouldn’t be that way. I’m sorry. For now, you should take those potions so we can go talk to Sirius. Bill and Charlie were up there, too. They refused to leave until they made sure you’re okay, so they’re probably still there.”

She glanced at the potions and considered refusing them again, but she had to admit she was starting to feel it. “I didn’t even realize I’d been hit, you know. I didn’t know why Snape grabbed me… he dragged me through a class made entirely of DA members, Reg. They’ll have questions. What do I tell them?” 

“Tell them what you think they need to hear to protect them. But for now, take the potions and let’s get upstairs. I wanna get back before Sirius comes looking for us.”

Cassiopeia grimaced and started downing the potions. By the last one, she was starting to feel alright, if a bit nauseous. He helped her to her feet and soon, the pair were making their way into the classroom. Eyes were on them, but it was Michael Corner that got to his feet. 

“Cassie!” he exclaimed. “We’re worried. You’re hurt?” 

“Healed,” she offered them a smile. “We’ll talk about it at tonight’s meeting.”

“But what happened?” Ernie pressed. “You look like shit, Black. It had to be that attack, right? You  _ fought _ ? You yelled at us for  _ asking _ to fight!” 

Her smile faded. “Ernie, it’s- it’s not that simple.”

“Then make it simple, because we can’t have a leader that puts herself in danger and dies on us!” 

“Then leave!” she snapped loudly. They stared at each other, both surprised by her outburst. 

“Quiet,” Snape drawled loudly. “Continue brewing. Black, both of you, get out of my classroom. Now.”

Regulus quickly led her from the classroom and out of the dungeons. It was only when they were on the stairs again that he spoke to her. “You can’t do that, Cas. You can’t push them away. He has a right to be concerned over this breakdown. It is a risk to their safety.”

Cassiopeia didn’t answer. They spent the next five minutes in silence until they got to the Room. Upon entering, they found that Regulus was right - Sirius, Bill, and Charlie were all in there. Sirius said nothing but stalked over to pull his sister into a tight hug. “Sirius-,”

“Goddamn it, Cassie,” he whispered into her hair. He was starting to hurt her, holding her so tight, so she squirmed slightly and he loosened his grip. “Look at you. Is that all your blood?”

Cassiopeia grimaced. “I don’t really know.”

“Cas, you can’t- you can’t do this,” Sirius looked down at her with a frown. “You’re going to get yourself killed, kitten.”

“I know,” she said quickly. She glanced at Regulus and then back to Sirius. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have done that. I put Charlie in danger and I put myself in danger. I… need to trust the Order. I won’t do it again.” 

“Damn right you won’t,” he muttered. He seemed appeased for the time being, so she slipped out of his arms and over to Charlie. He grabbed her too, though a bit gentler than her brother had.

“You’re a dangerous kid, you know that? Just don’t assume you’re more dangerous than they are.”

“I don’t,” she assured him. She felt Bill pat her shoulder from where he stood at Charlie’s side. “You gonna lecture me, too?” 

“I assume you got enough from Regulus alone,” he chuckled. “Clearly you’ve learned your lesson. You should probably go catch up with your friends, though. We got a Patronus from Harry a minute before you got here demanding to know what the hell happened.”

Cassiopeia backed up and groaned. “I bet Ernie or Corner spread the news.”

“They probably wanted to know what happened,” Regulus assured her. “Go find them. We’ll see you in a few days, Cassie.” 

“Right.” She turned to leave but hesitated and looked back at Regulus. “Snape is… can you handle him? He’s going to yell at me again.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t change that. He’ll yell at us both if I try.”

Frustrated but not surprised, Cassiopeia slipped from the room and quickly made her way all the way back down to the dungeons, where she hurried to Slytherin. Her friends weren’t in the common room, so she went to the dorm and found them waiting rather impatiently. 

“Cassie!” Blaise exclaimed. He tossed himself in her arms and squeezed her tight. “Thank Merlin.”

“She’s covered in blood again,” Daphne complained. “Why is it she’s always covered in blood?” 

“Because she’s a fucking idiot,” Draco muttered, pacing. 

“I’m fine, guys,” she assured them. She’d been released from her hug, so she went to sit next to Harry on his bed, looking out at their five friends. “I wasn’t, but I am now.”

“What  _ happened _ ?” Astoria questioned sharply. “We got a message from Hannah saying you were hurt and  _ angry _ and that you and Regulus got kicked out of Snape’s classroom because you yelled at Ernie.”

“Hannah was in the room,” Cassiopeia realized. “Most of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were. Sixth year, at least. I did lose it a little, but I’m fine now.”

“Then explain what happened,” Theo requested quietly. “Right now it seems like things are worse than you’re letting on, Cassie.” 

“What happened was I couldn’t handle Sirius,” she admitted, glancing at Harry. “You’ve seen him, Harry. He’s insufferable, acting like everything’s the same, or that it can be the same again. And he was talking about… fleeing to America and it was so irritating that I yelled at him and went down to help Charlie. Except it was a trap and… no one was hurt except for me and some Death Eaters, but it could’ve been bad.”

“What happened, exactly? During the fight, I mean,” Harry asked her in concern. “They said you were hurt and your clothes are ripped.”

“Yeah. It was Rosier at first, but I took care of him. There were a few others, and then I dueled Rabastan and he looked  _ pissed _ , but he got away. I don’t really remember much of it in the middle there, but they cursed me a few times. Snape and Regulus fixed me up.”

“What do you plan to tell the DA?” Theo wondered. “You need to make this sound better than it was.”

“I wholeheartedly disagree,” Daphne stared at him in surprise. “They have a right to know the state of mind she’s in. Doing something so dangerous and impulsive could potentially put the DA in danger in the future, and they have every right to be aware of that.” 

“Well, it isn’t like they assume she’s perfectly fine,” Blaise argued. “They should know she’s liable to lose it sometimes. It’s understandable.”

“They do,” Draco disagreed quickly. “Assume she’s fine, that is. Do you honestly think that group of Gryffindors truly understand the weight of what she’s gone through? No. They don’t know what to expect from her, so they expect the same stability. This is their first proof that stability is no longer a choice.”

“Guys,” Cassiopeia stared at them. “I’m not losing my mind.”

“She has a point. She’s always done stupid, reckless shit. What’s to say this was so different?” Astoria wondered. 

“Because yesterday she was preaching about letting the Order help,” Draco told his girlfriend, irritated. 

“Look, I know it was stupid,” Cassiopeia told them. “But I’m not losing my mind. I’m not irresponsible. I just need to… figure out how to deal with this shit.”

“Talk to Snape,” Blaise requested quietly. She met his gaze and frowned. “Regulus. Talk to Regulus. He offered to help, didn’t he?”

“That was before-,”

“You need help, Cas. Before we leave school and start fighting more regularly. You have to be in a stable state of mind, not just for yourself, but for us, too. Our safety.” 

Cassiopeia quieted and thought back to the wand in Charlie’s face. She should’ve regretted that. She was pretty sure that a year ago, she never would’ve pulled something so risky. Did it really have to do with what she’d gone through? If so, would talking to Regulus help? She wasn’t even sure she trusted him, so how could she bare her worst memories to him?

“Just think about it,” Theo requested softly. 

“We can stay here until the meeting later,” Harry suggested. “I can get Dobby to bring us dinner if you want.”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I’d like that.” 

* * *

That night, the DA waited restlessly for Cassiopeia and her friends to get there. They’d all arrived early, impatient for the explanation they expected. When she entered the room to find them waiting, she took in a slow, deep breath and pushed down the frustration she felt. As much as she wanted to tell them all to back off, she also knew they expected her to teach and protect them. She made her way to the front of the room as the crowd fell silent. It was just the senior DA, though it was supposed to be a double meeting. They must’ve sent away the younger kids. “I’m glad you’re all okay. I know you expect an explanation from me. I assume you all know by now that I fought today.”

“You said you weren’t going to,” Cho pointed out sharply. “None of us were.”

“I know what I said,” she replied, careful not to snap. “And I shouldn’t have. I meant it- we need to let them help us. I made a mistake, and I put myself and others in danger. It could’ve ended a  _ lot _ worse than it did.”

“So why the hell did you do it if you know you shouldn’t have?” Ernie asked sharply. He was clearly frustrated, and she figured that frustration came from fear. 

Still, the idea of bearing her weakness to the group was one that left her feeling slightly sick. “Because hindsight is a bitch,” was her bitter response. “Look, even if you don’t fully trust me after this, trust the people around me, okay? They’re the ones that reminded me that what I did was stupid, and they’re the ones that, without a doubt, will be watching me to make sure I don’t mess up again.”

“Even if she isn’t stable, we are,” Daphne said plainly. “And there’s no way we’re letting her out of our sight now.”

“This is about more than just me,” Cassiopeia reminded them. “I might be leading you right now, but don’t you  _ dare _ assume that’ll last. Look, I could die. I could very well die, and I want- I  _ need _ all of you to understand that I might not always be your leader. Be comfortable working with my friends, because wh-  _ if _ I die, they’re who you’ll need to look to."

It was a grim reminder for the group, but one that they took seriously. No one continued to question her after that, and it was a particularly quiet and slow night otherwise, the weight of the conversation slowing them down. 

* * *

Albus poured his third glass of firewhiskey in the last ten minutes. Just as the last ones, he drank it in one large gulp and slammed the glass on his desk, startling Fawkes. 

What did he have to do? He’d tried so many times to stop her, to get her killed, and it  _ still _ wasn’t working. He’d risked all of the students in the castle to get her captured and killed, and it hadn’t worked! He’d given the passage to Death Eaters, they’d come through, and she’d still killed four of them alone.

Clearly, he couldn’t count on Death Eaters. 

Perhaps if she had an accident of sorts… yes, that might work. He nodded firmly to himself and picked up his quill - planning needed to be done, and charms needed to be made. 

* * *

**March 17th, 1997**

That day, Cassiopeia ran after Daphne as the other woman strode furiously through the halls with a box of chocolates in her hands. “Daph-,”

“Don’t,” Daphne snapped as they approached the Great Hall. It was after dinner, and there were a number of students studying in the large room, including a group of Gryffindor girls. She came to a stop in front of a brown-haired girl, who looked up at her with wide, fearful eyes. “Vane, what the  _ hell _ are you doing?”

“W-What are you-,”

“A  _ love potion _ ?” she nearly shrieked. “Are you stupid? Do you even- did you even think about the pure  _ ethics _ of love potions? They’re despicable! You’re absolutely dissolving his right to choose! He is a  _ person _ , and he has no bloody clue who you are! You only give a shit about him because you think he’s the Chosen One, or whatever idiotic nickname you’ve come up with for him.”

“I didn’t-,” 

“You’re lucky she’s not hexing you,” Cassiopeia said calmly, though her own hair was sparking. “Actually, you’re lucky I’m not cursing you. He’s my brother. Don’t mess with him, or I’ll mess with you. Keep in mind, I’m a Black. We’re not exactly stable, are we?”

Daphne turned up her nose and spun around to stalk out. Cassiopeia followed her quickly and didn’t manage to catch up until they’d gone down a staircase to the dungeons. They stopped when they got down there, and Daphne took in a deep breath to calm down. “Circe, she’s despicable. We’re bloody lucky Harry isn’t stupid or he might’ve  _ eaten _ them, and then where would we be?”

“In detention for cursing Romilda,” Cassiopeia made a face. 

“Miss- Miss Black! Miss Greengrass, stop!” They both turned to find McGonagall rushing over with a pinched brow. She came to a stop and looked at them sternly. “Miss Vane claims you’ve threatened her.”

“Here, Professor,” Cassiopeia took the chocolates and handed them to the woman. “Romilda attempted to dose my brother with a love potion. It would’ve removed his consent from the equation, and neither of us can let that stand. If you want to punish her, go ahead, but she needs to stay the hell away from him.”

McGonagall looked horrified as she took the box. “And how do you know they contain a love potion?”

“A spell Professor Snape taught me,” Cassiopeia made a face at the mere mention of their potions professor. “To detect potions in food and drink. When these showed up on Harry’s bed, he gave them to me to test. They came with a note from Romilda. I’m sure we can get that, too, if you need it.”

“Yes, yes, we should get that,” McGonagall said, her brow still pinched but now for a different reason. “And why didn’t you take this to Professor Snape?”

Cassiopeia’s lips thinned. “We aren’t speaking.”

The woman looked surprised. It wasn’t much of a secret within the staff that Snape had always protected Cassiopeia to the best of his abilities. The young woman had always trusted him, too. It had been most obvious when Umbridge had used the blood quill, and she’d gone straight to the man. The idea of them not speaking was… confusing, to say the least. “Well, be that as it may, he is your head of House. Next time, bring it to his attention instead of threatening other students.”

“How about we make sure it doesn’t happen again instead?” she suggested calmly. “So I won’t have to get involved again.”

“Miss Black, he is your head of House,” McGonagall said again, this time a bit softer. “What possible reason could you have to not trust him?”

“Not trusting him isn’t the problem. The  _ problem _ is that one of us is making a very stupid decision and putting themselves in an extreme amount of danger, and the other refuses to watch them get killed for no good reason!”

Daphne held back her wince. “Professor, can we go back to our dorm?”

“Yes, that would be best,” McGonagall said calmly. “I will handle Miss Vane. Please do not approach her again.”

* * *

“Severus.”

Snape looked up from the papers he was grading to find a clearly irritated Gryffindor professor in his doorway. “Minerva. I am quite busy, so-,”

“Oh, find the time,” she scoffed, walking in. She dropped a box of chocolates in front of him. He raised an eyebrow. “Miss Black threatened Miss Vane for sending these to Mister Potter. They were dosed with a love potion.”

“And?”

“She is your student,” Minerva scoffed. “She has always trusted you more than anyone on this staff. Now, she is so angry with you that she’s resorted to threatening one of my students.”

Snape looked at her stiffly. “I fail to see how this is unusual for her.”

“It is unusual because when I asked her why she did not bring these to you, she claimed it was because she’s mad at you. She claims one of you is putting themselves in unnecessary danger, and therefore, you are no longer speaking. Now really, Severus, she is a student.”

“Miss Black does find herself in danger quite often,” he said. 

Minerva gave him a look he’d seen in school, pointed at Sirius Black quite often - one that suggested he was being ridiculous and she expected him to quit it immediately. “She wasn’t speaking of herself. Tell me, Severus, what danger does she believe you’re in?”

“I wouldn’t know,” he replied calmly. He knew it didn’t matter - Minerva was a smart woman. The gears were turning in her head, and he knew she’d easily figured it out when her eyes drifted to his left arm. “Minerva-,”

“You’re not,” she whispered, horrified. “How could you? It’s not secret they abducted Cassiopeia, and you still-,” 

“I do not,” he snapped at her, surprising her. “If you must, discuss it with Albus, but do not doubt my intentions with Miss Black. Long ago, Regulus made me swear to protect her, and I have always done so to the best of my ability. She threw a fit and continues to do so, which is why she threatened Miss Vane.”

“Oh, Severus, if she can’t trust anyone else in this castle, she must trust you,” Minerva warned him. “Whatever you are doing for Albus, I’m afraid Miss Black is right. It’ll get you killed. They are much more dangerous than before, and angrier, it seems. Leave before it’s too late and you lose something you can’t get back.”

Without another word, Minerva walked out, leaving the box of chocolates on his desk as a reminder of her concerned words - words that dug into him sharply, leaving him uneasy. 

* * *

**April 9th, 1997**

It was late that afternoon when Cassiopeia finished tutoring a group of third years. It had been Astoria’s job, but Draco had guilted her into taking over that day so they could sneak out to Hogsmeade. She’d done it reluctantly, and had done well. When they were finished, she gathered her things and made her way from the fifth floor toward the common room. 

As per usual, she skipped over the trick step and tried to jump onto the two steps below it. This time, however, both of those steps disappeared from under her, and she fell entirely from the staircase. She let out a shriek and looked down as she fell, and her heart rate skyrocketed when she saw that there were no staircases beneath her. 

As she fell, moving closer and closer to the ground, she fumbled for her wand. With it in her hand, she pointed it at the floor and screamed the spell she needed - Arresto Momentum. 

Except, it didn’t work. 

The spell failed entirely. Actually, she thought she might’ve been moving faster. She wracked her brain for another spell that could even  _ possibly _ help her. It was only when she remembered a spell a friend had told her, a prank they’d once pulled, that she cast again. “ _ Petaurum _ !” 

This time, it worked. The floor turned into a trampoline just as she hit it, and she bounced a few times until she came to a stop. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest as she stared upward at the staircase she’d fallen from.

What the  _ hell _ had happened?

* * *

**May 1st, 1997**

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Remus and Tonks are-,”

“No, no, I heard you,” Harry shook his head as he followed his sister down the halls of Potter Manor toward her bedroom. When they got there, they found Narcissa laying out a dress on her bed. 

“Oh, there you are,” the woman nodded at the dress. “Get changed quickly - we don’t have long for your hair. Harry, Sirius is putting your robes in your room, so get changed.”

“I just don’t understand when- I mean, she’s been at school with us,” Harry told them. “Right? So when did they even have  _ time _ to fall in love?”

“Before Amelia told her to babysit us, obviously,” Cassiopeia said, pointing at the door. “Go.”

Harry sighed heavily and left the room, closing the door behind him. Once he was gone, she moved toward the robes and started to get changed. Narcissa had already seen her with her scars barred, so she didn’t mind the woman waiting. The robes were a deep purple and fell to the floor, wrapping around her beautifully. After she’d put them on, she carefully slipped on the heels that had been placed on the bed, too. Those were silver and wrapped their way up her leg to mid-calf. 

Getting ready didn’t take all that long. Narcissa was expertly twisting her hair into a cascading braid when she spoke. “Your brothers are worried.”

“For Moony?” Cassiopeia shrugged. “I mean, if he’s happy with Tonks, then-,”

Narcissa interrupted her quickly. “For you.”

“Ah.”

“Much like last time, I can feel it. It feels a bit like it’s arching, this war. One way or another, we aren’t too far from the end. I only hope you are still here when we come out the other side.” 

Cassiopeia didn’t answer her. Narcissa spelled the braid together at the end and dropped it. With a pat on her shoulder, she left the room, leaving her alone to finish getting ready. 

* * *

**June 13th, 1997**

So, the staircase hadn’t worked. The passageway hadn’t worked. Being abducted from the bookstore hadn’t worked. 

Nothing was working.

As the old man stared down at his shriveled, dying arm, he scowled. What did he have to lose anymore? Nothing. He was dying, there was no way around it. He’d be dead in months at most. He refused to die before doing what he’d sworn he’d do. 

So what other option did he have than to simply attack her outright? She was powerful and smart, yes, but he was older and had much more experience than she did. He could do it, certainly. 

And he would do it immediately. The fact that he was drunk would be nothing more than an annoyance. 

Albus grabbed his wand and slipped out from his office. He used his Patronus to take him to Cassiopeia - she was in a hall on the third floor. He made his way through the winding halls and down staircases, getting more and more excited for the task ahead of him. Once she was dead, he didn’t mind dying himself. She was his final foe, and he would win.

He turned the corner and wasn’t surprised by the sight of her with her cousin - Draco, that was. Still, the boy was weak. He wouldn’t be a problem. Albus raised his wand and pointed it firmly at her. “ _ Defodio _ !” 

Malfoy shoved her out of the way, but the spell still hit her right hip. It all happened in moments, far too quickly for Albus to properly process, being inebriated. Malfoy’s wand raised silently, and a spell was shot off. It moved in what looked like slow motion through the air, bright green reflecting on the walls as it came to hit Albus in the middle of his chest.

And then, it was over. He fell to the ground, wand in hand, killed not by the curse that had been afflicting him for months but rather a protective friend and cousin, furious at the attempted murder. 

Draco paid Dumbledore’s body no attention. He instead grabbed Cassiopeia, who had hit her head and passed out when she fell, and hurried toward the infirmary with her. He didn’t stop until he dropped her in a bed and had Madame Pomfrey there working to heal her. 

It was barely ten minutes later when Sirius barged into the quiet infirmary and ran to the bed his sister was in. She was still unconscious, but Draco stood on her left tensely. “What the  _ fuck _ happened?”

“Dumbledore,” Draco said as calmly as he could manage. “He used Defodio. He just- he just showed up and cast immediately, no warning. I barely had time to push her out of the way, and she still got hit.”

“Where-,”

“He’s dead,” he interrupted sharply. “I- he’s dead.” 

“Fuck,” Sirius whispered. He brushed some hair from Cassiopeia’s eyes and sighed heavily. “Shit. Is she going to be okay?” 

“Madame Pomfrey said she just needs to sleep,” Draco said. “She hit her head pretty hard when I pushed her. She’s going to be asleep for a few hours.”

“Right,” he nodded in relief. She was going to be okay. 

“Sirius…”

He looked over to his young cousin, who was staring at Cassiopeia nervously. He tried to shake himself and do what a Lord should do- a member of his family had just killed one of the most powerful men in the Wizarding World. That was a big deal. “You defended your cousin, and the Black heir. Dumbledore attacked her. They can’t put you away for that."

“Everything is corrupt,” Draco argued. “They can do whatever they want.”

“No, they can’t. You have plenty of people that’ll help you. That’s what the alliance is  _ for _ . We might get some pushback from certain Order members, but Kinsgley or Moody will probably take over now, and we trust them. Since we already suspected Dumbledore, it shouldn’t be too difficult to protect you. To be safe, we’ll have you come home tonight,” he suggested. “I know Cissa will want to see you.”

“What about her?” he asked, looking down at his unconscious cousin. She was tense, even in her sleep, and he was clearly reluctant to leave her. 

Sirius couldn’t really blame him - he didn’t want to leave her, either. Still, he knew they had to. They were quite large targets, just sitting together in the Infirmary. They’d need to move. “We’ll get Harry up here. Theo, too, if that’ll make you feel better, but we have to go.” 

Draco’s eyes lingered on her for a moment longer before he straightened and gave a sharp nod. “As soon as they’re here, we can go.”

* * *

It wasn’t supposed to happen like it did. 

Pansy had been working for  _ months _ to prepare for the Death Eaters entering the school and killing the headmaster. She’d repaired the Vanishing Cabinet in under a month, earning her praise from the Dark Lord himself. 

The plan had been to let Bellatrix, Travers, Dolohov, and others into the castle in the middle of the night. Then, she’d hurry back to her dorm while they found and killed Dumbledore. She’d let them into Slytherin so they could grab Harry, Cassiopeia, and Draco. The castle would be theirs, and so would the Black family. 

But that wasn’t what had happened.

Instead, Dumbledore himself had ruined their plans. He’d attempted to murder Cassiopeia and gotten himself killed in the process. It left the castle defenseless, and they’d moved in the middle of the night. 

It was chaotic. News of the headmaster’s death had gotten to the Dark Lord slower than they’d have liked, so the higher ranking Death Eaters had to move quickly. They’d immediately come through the Vanishing Cabinet, and started the attack on Gryffindor and Hufflepuff equally, instead of taking the Black family. They didn’t want to risk the DA - a group which they knew existed, but had no name for aside from “Rebellion” - fighting back. 

Bellatrix was the one that blew apart the Fat Lady’s portrait. The singing woman barely had time to jump into another portrait before the defodio hit her home. They surged in and then up to dorms, where they were surprised to find the place empty. After checking Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, the Death Eaters went to Ravenclaw, only to find that tower as empty as the others. 

There were no spells, curses, or charms on the dorms. No hidden passages, or extension charms cloaking the kids. 

They simply weren’t there. 

Finally, angry and itching to curse some kids, they surged into Slytherin common room. The common room itself was empty - both rooms - and so they stormed up to the sixth-year dorms to look for the Black family kids and their friends. 

The dorms were empty, save for Pansy Parkinson. In the boys’ dorm, they found a letter lying on the bathroom counter. 

_ Assholes, _

_ You’ve sprung a leak. _

_ Hoping you Avada yourself,  _

_ The Potter Alliance _

* * *


	31. The Alliance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last finished chapter that I have for the moment!

**June 13th, 1997**

**Potter Manor**

“It was reckless!” 

“What does it fucking matter?” 

“It _matters_ because they had no idea before!”

“Of _course_ , they did! Voldemort is too paranoid and too smart- he _is_ smart, even if he’s bigoted- he’s too smart to assume we don’t have a spy in his ranks!” 

“Well, you didn’t have to tell it to his face!”

Harry leaned over to Theo, staring at his sister and Blaise with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen them fight before, have you?”

“No,” Theo sighed, rubbing at his face. He leaned forward and touched Cassiopeia’s arm. She turned on him, fury still in her eyes. “Cas, it’s too late. It’s done. We need to focus on them right now.”

Their leader turned to look at the large group of students assembled in the ballroom. She stood tall and her anger showed clearly to everyone around. “Theo’s right. I’m sorry. I appreciate everyone’s help getting out of the castle. Have you all finished your head counts? Gryffindor?” 

Neville stepped forward. “We’ve got everyone.”

“Hufflepuff?”

Susan straightened. “All accounted for. Um… we have Justin here. He’s like… really confused, so _Ron_ decided it’d be a good idea to stun him. What should we do?”

Cassiopeia glanced around until she found Dean sitting on the floor by Justin’s unconscious body. “Watch him for the time being. When we’re done here, I’ll remove the memory suppression. At this point, it’s too dangerous to keep him out of the loop. He can join again under some _very_ strict conditions, and only if Kaitlyn is okay with it.”

Kaitlyn glanced at Justin and took in a deep breath. “Yeah, it’s fine. Can I hex him, though?”

When Cassiopeia started to say yes, Theo nudged her. She let out a huff and shook her head. “No, but if you two pair up to duel… well, I can’t control that.”

“Moving on,” Draco drawled. 

“Right. Ravenclaw?” 

Michael raised his hand slightly. “We’ve counted and all we’re missing is Alex.”

Cho shook her head quickly. “She left yesterday. Went home early.” 

“Yeah, we’ve got Alex somewhere safe,” Cassiopeia assured them. “As for Slytherin, we’ve got us, plus a few of the younger years. Oh, also, I kidnapped Millicent.”

“You- you _kidnapped Millicent_?” Draco repeated, his voice rising. “Cassiopeia!” 

“Oh, calm down,” she rolled her eyes at her cousin. “I happen to know that she is both not against us yet, and also, her family is there against their will. She’ll be okay as long as we grab her parents and brother. She’s not a horrible person, you know.”

“Aside from Millicent,” Harry spoke up. “Do you know where Pansy was?” 

Cassiopeia snorted. “Yeah, I dosed her with a couple dreamless sleeps to knock her out for a while. She’s probably going to sleep straight through the invasion.”

“Oh my god,” he muttered, sighing. “Cas.”

“So aside from you being fucking insane,” Blaise said, earning himself a glare. “What else is there?” 

“Well, we need to start with this: we have enough room between Potter Manor, Greengrass Manor, Black Manor, and Grimmauld Place to house all of you and your families. I would highly suggest you allowing us to protect you. Most of the Potter Alliance has already agreed to this.”

“Including whom?” 

Cassiopeia thought for a moment to the emergency meeting they were holding and the information Regulus was occasionally sending her. “I think it was- well, Amelia agreed to protection, so Susan, that’s you. Hannah, your dad also wants to stay. Anthony, your parents, and Terry, your mum as well. That’s it so far, but they’re still in the middle of the meeting. I imagine most, if not all of the Alliance will be taking shelter here.” 

“What about my parents? My brothers?” Ginny asked with a frown. “I don’t- they should be here, too.”

“I plan to Floo call Bill and Charlie in a bit,” Cassiopeia assured her friend. “As for your parents, Fred, and George, it’s up to them. Dumbledore is dead now, so he won’t be controlling them, but they need to trust us. Right now, your mum doesn’t trust Sirius, and she needs to. Can you get her to?” 

“We can,” Ron said for his sister. The siblings exchanged a long glance before he spoke again, more firmly this time. “We can. If it takes Dad declaring it some family… whatever, we’ll get them here.”

“But why aren’t we in the meeting?” Hannah questioned, frowning. “I get that we’re just heirs or not even that, but this isn’t about- it’s about survival, and fighting, and we all need to be aware of what’s happening to survive.”

“Yeah, I mean, how are we supposed to win this war if we don’t even know what’s going on?” Dean agreed. “Whatever they’re doing, we can help.”

Cassiopeia put her hands up. “You know that I, of all people, understand. It kills me when I can’t make it to Alliance, Order, or War Council meetings. That being said, your parents or guardians are still under the illusion that this- this can be handled by the adults. The fact is, it can’t be. Teenagers, kids, we’re the strongest. And it’s not right that we’re fighting a war that we didn’t start or ask for, but it’s how it is. The reason we’re in here while they’re in the Alliance room is because Regulus is feeding me information to get you prepared and aware. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be getting it at all. Aside from that, I’m feeding him information about you, who’s here, and what you want. This isn’t us separating you on purpose - this is us organizing to the best of our abilities on such short notice.”

“Alright, so?” Seamus wondered. “What’s the plan? How’re we gonna get them out of there?”

Astoria looked at him like he was stupid. “Why would we?”

“Because- that’s _Hogwarts_! We can’t just leave them there! We need to go back and-,”

“And?” she interrupted. He faltered, and she gave a sharp nod. “There’s nothing there that we need. All the students loyal to the Alliance, or at the very least, not loyal to the Dark, are here. We got almost all of the teachers out, too, barring…” she shot a look at Cassiopeia and did her best not to grimace. “They can have the castle. We don’t need it. We’re safer here, anyway, away from them. Away from the attacks in the hallways, the quiet recruiting, and the uncomfortable waiting for something to happen. It’s happened, and there’s no going back."

“She’s right,” Luna said from the middle of the group. She stood to Ginny’s left and stared up at the group at the front - the group of teenagers that always led the meetings, consisting of Cassiopeia, Harry, Draco, Theo, Blaise, Daphne, and Astoria. “Returning to school would be just like turning our backs and pretending we’re not in the middle of a war. There’s no going back now.”

“Then what?” Michael looked at them with a frown. “What do we do?” 

“We wait,” Cassiopeia said calmly. “We regroup, and get settled. We’re all going to be taking some loyalty vows for the safety of everyone here. Guys… I think we’re getting close. It looks bad now, but we’re close."

“How do you know?”

She sighed. “There’s a few things, items, that we have to destroy before we can kill him. We have three of them, we’ve already destroyed three, and there’s one we won’t be able to kill until we get to him. We have to be sure we’re ready before destroying them, because if we act too soon and we’re not ready for him, he could very well make more and we’d have to start all over.”

“Do you plan to tell us what they are?” Zacharias wondered. 

“No,” she replied plainly. She got a few irritated and even angry looks, so she put up her hand. “I say no because it’s extremely dangerous, dark, and old magic. I did some reading on it and… I’ve never wanted to Obliviate myself more. I’m telling you everything except what the magic is.”

“Well, what are the items?” Susan tried. “Not the magic, the items.”

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt… okay, three have been destroyed already. One was Riddle’s diary from when he was a teenager, one was Ravenclaw’s diadem, and the other-,”

“Was me,” Harry cut in. Everyone stared at him, and he shrugged. “I dunno. Cassie called Bill one day, he came and killed me, and then Daph yelled at me for two hours.”

“Harry also got me in trouble with Draco,” his sister added, making a face at him. “Ridiculous. Anyhow, the ones we have but can’t destroy yet are his ancestors’ ring, Hufflepuff’s cup, and Slytherins’ locket. The one we don’t have and can’t destroy until we’re ready to kill him is his snake, Nagini.”

“Woah,” Terry blinked at her. “His _snake_ , Harry, and five inanimate objects? How could you even…?”

“Nevermind that, those are Founders heirlooms!” Susan exclaimed, outraged. “ _Please_ tell me you don’t have to destroy them completely.”

“Unfortunately, both means of… uh, _deactivating_ the curse in them will destroy them. The diary was wrecked, right, Harry?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “Kinda hard to be careful of the leather binding when you’re stabbing it with a Basilisk fang and dying.”

“Fair point.”

“So what do we do now?” Neville wondered. “As in, _now_. Tonight.”

“Tonight, we rest,” Cassiopeia looked out over all of them. “Tomorrow, we plan. DA meetings-,”

“We shouldn’t call ourselves that,” Hannah interrupted, frowning to herself. “We shouldn’t- we shouldn’t call ourselves something that still reminds so many of us of Dumbledore. We’re the Alliance now.” 

“We’ve already got a Potter Alliance,” Harry pointed out. Hannah shook her head. 

“Not the Potter Alliance. We’re just the Alliance. An Alliance of good and safety and freedom. An Alliance that fights for what’s right, because no one else can do it as well as we can.”

Cassiopeia nodded slowly. “Okay. Yeah, okay. Alliance meetings, then, will be held daily. The younger kids will continue their classes, and we can as well. We’re going to - oh, I should tell Regulus - we’re going to pay the teachers to keep working here. Remus will probably join for DADA. We’ll bully him into it.”

“So an actually decent DADA professor that isn’t you,” Terry laughed. 

Her immediate reaction was to defend Snape’s Defense abilities, but she stopped short, their argument mere hours ago too fresh in her mind. Tense, she looked around. “I think that’s all for tonight. You can stay here or wander around until your parents are finished, and then we’ll figure out where everyone is going. Thank you.”

She didn’t waste time slipping out of the large ballroom. She knew someone was following her, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. When she reached her bedroom, she turned around before entering with the intent to snap at them and get them to leave, but Blaise brushed past her and came to a stop in the middle of her room, waiting. Hesitantly, Cassiopeia closed the door behind her and looked at him. “Look, it’s fine. It’s done, we can’t take it back. It doesn’t matter.”

That did not seem to help. To her shock, he looked _angry_ . “It doesn’t _matter_? Are you serious right now?” 

“Yes,” she said quietly. “There’s no point.”

“To what?”

She hesitated. “What?

“There’s no point to _what_ , Cassiopeia?”

“I don’t- this argument, clearly.”

He turned around to pace in frustration. 

“I don’t understand, what’s wrong with you?” she asked him, lost. He rounded on her and looked even angrier than before. 

“What’s wrong with me? I’m pissed off, Cas. I am so fucking pissed. I’m pissed that your life has been bullshit, I’m pissed that Theo’s life has been bullshit, I’m pissed at Death Eaters and bloody fucking Voldemort for driving you to the point that you’re about to give up!” 

She sucked in a sharp breath. “I _never_ said I’m going to give up-,”

“But we can all see it,” he told her loudly. “You’re so _tired_ , and Merlin, you have every right to be, but you’re about ready to just-,”

“Blaise-,”

“Don’t tell me you don’t want to die!” 

Cassiopeia stepped back, her lips thinning. “Stop.”

“You do! And I’m so pissed at you for it. Merlin knows you have the right to want to die, but _fuck_ , you’re not supposed to! You’re supposed to live, and be happy with Theo, and let me love you and be selfish, and have your fucking _family_ ! You are so _selfish_ , daring to give all of us some goddamn hope in this war and then silently anticipating, planning your own death. You can’t fucking do that Cassiopeia. _You can’t do that_.”

“Get out,” she said quietly, pointing at the door. He just stared at her darkly, so she shouted. “Blaise, get out!” 

He turned on his heel and, without another word, left the room. She stood in the middle of her room, shaking slightly as she stared at the spot he’d stood in. Where the hell had that come from? More than that, was he the only one that thought she wanted to get killed, or was it everyone? She could feel concern from Regulus, and vaguely realized he was on his way to her, so she sent back her mixed up emotions, all of which suggested she wanted to be alone. 

Still, two minutes later, the door creaked open. She looked up, prepared to yell at her brother, but stopped short at the sight of Theo. “Oh.”

Theo grimaced and walked over. He wrapped her up in a tight hug silently, and she felt herself lean into it. They stood there together for a while before she had finally relaxed a bit and he felt comfortable speaking. “You guys have never fought before.” 

“I can’t- I can’t handle that, or him,” she told him quietly. “We have so much going on, fighting is- it’s the worst thing we can do.”

“Okay,” he nodded. “So what do you need, then?”

Looking up at him while he held her, she searched his jade green eyes and felt comfortable there. She knew she was safe with him, and he knew her limits, apparently more than Blaise - or at least, he cared more than Blaise did in that moment. “Theo.”

“Yes?”

She hesitated slightly. They hadn’t talked about anything since the night they’d ignited the bond, and she didn’t know how he was feeling. She bit her lip and took in a breath. “I’d like to kiss you.”

Theo froze. “Cas, I don’t want you to kiss me because you just had a fight with Blaise. If you want to get back at him, we can figure something else out.”

“Not- no,” she frowned slightly. “I don’t want to kiss you because I’m mad at Blaise. I want to kiss you because I’m- you- it’s not about him.”

“And you’re unable to articulate your feelings?” he questioned. She gave a short nod, and he looked over her face closely. Finally, he stepped back. “If you still want to kiss me tomorrow, kiss me. Not tonight. Not after Hogwarts, not while we’re trying to organize the Alliance, and not while at least one of your brothers is on the way here to check on you.”

As if he’d been listening, Sirius threw the door opened and breathed out in relief at the sight of the teenagers. “Cas, Theo, thank god. Blaise hexed Harry, I wasn’t sure what’s going on.”

“Blaise- are you fucking ser-,” Cassiopeia stepped back, her hair starting to spark. “Where’s my wand? Or my daggers? I need to- where is he?” 

“Harry’s with Tonks. She’s trying to deflate the boils,” Sirius said, snickering slightly. 

“ _Blaise_!” 

“Oh. He’s in the-,"

“Don’t,” Theo cut in quickly. “Cas, don’t touch him. You’re both pissed, both for good reasons- _no_ , I’m not agreeing with everything he said. Yes, I heard all of it. My point is, you’re too heated tonight. I’ll go handle Blaise. You need to eat something - you skipped lunch.”

“C’mon, kitten,” Sirius grabbed his sister when Theo fully released her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the room. “Let’s get some dinner before we start sending people out.”

* * *

**June 14th, 1997**

**Potter Manor**

That day, the meeting was a bit different. 

The Order gathered along with the Potter Alliance and the Alliance. The large group was led by the Black family, and it took time to get them gathered and quiet. When the room was relatively silent, the three heads got their attention.

“Thank you for coming,” Sirius said, looking mainly to the Order members. “I know the Order must be pretty confused about what’s going on, and probably why you’re here. I want to help clear things up, but you need to wait for us to finish.”

“Yesterday, Dumbledore tried to kill Cassiopeia,” Regulus told them, startling almost everyone. “In the attack, he was killed himself. Last night, with the castle defenseless in his absence, Death Eaters came and took the castle.”

“I was tipped off,” Cassiopeia said before nodding to the Alliance. “We’ve been organized enough to evacuate at the drop of a hat, so we did. The only students remaining in the castle are those loyal to Voldemort.”

“Dumbledore can’t be… dead,” Hestia said, confused. 

Molly shook her head. “He wouldn’t try to kill you, dear. This is a mistake.”

“It’s not,” she said sharply. “ _Someone_ has been trying to kill me for a while, and now we know for sure it was him.”

“Try to kill you? What do you mean?” Arthur frowned at her in concern. “What’s happened?”

“Aside from Dumbledore sending a _Defodio_ at me, someone vanished the steps after the trick step and put a block on _Arresto Momentum_ , so I fell like seven stories. I barely saved myself with a trampoline charm,” she began. “Then, there’s the Death Eaters that were able to get into the castle. The passage they used is one most people don’t know about and someone had to tip them off about it.”

Diggle scoffed. “Either of those could be Death Eaters.”

Cassiopeia narrowed her eyes. “How about the fact that someone put suggestive charms on me, telling me I _had_ to go to the bookstore to get Theo’s present? It happened during an Order meeting, Diggle. Unless you wanna admit to doing it, the only person that makes sense is Dumbledore.”

“What about Dung?” 

“Yeah, he’s not even _here_ , we don’t trust him that much,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “He wasn’t allowed out of the kitchen. I know some of you think Dumbledore was the savior of the wizarding world, but he was old, filled with faults, and so pissed at a seventeen-year-old girl that he tried multiple times to kill her. Now you can either stay here and keep fighting this war, which _isn’t_ about Dumbledore, or tell us right now and we’ll Obliviate you of being here and you can leave.”

There was a minute of silence as they all thought about his words before Charlie spoke up. “So, what happens now? Who leads us? Kingsley?”

Kingsley shook his head. “Those three have our movement more organized than anything I could do. It’s them.”

“But Regulus is a Death Eater, and Sirius-,”

“Molly,” Cassiopeia interrupted her sharply. “I’m sorry, but at this point, you are choosing to ignore the sacrifices my _entire_ family has and is making for this war effort. We are half of the fucking war council for Circe’s sake! You may not like them, like us, but we’re going to get through this war and _win_. If you can only follow an old man that got in a fight with his best friend and sent him to prison, then feel free to sit at home while we keep you safe. Dumbledore’s gone. He can’t think for you anymore, so make your decision now.”

“Well, count us in,” Bill said, nudging Charlie. “What can we do to help?”

“Us, too,” Emmaline and Dorcas said together. 

Hestia nodded. “If this is how we win the war and finally end this, then this is where I’ll be.”

It didn’t take long for the rest of the Order to agree. Finally, Ginny stepped closer to her mother. “Mum, please. Cassie’s been leading us at school for the last two years. They can handle this. I’m staying. Are you?"

Molly looked at her daughter and patted her hand gently. “Of course, we are, sweetheart.”

“Good,” Cassiopeia nodded sharply. “In that case, Kingsley, how’s the Ministry holding up?”

Kingsley got to his feet and walked over to stand by them. “Not well. There was a small attack on the Ministry yesterday as well, and it took out about a quarter of our Aurors… not that we had many to begin with. Hiring more is an issue. We can’t trust anyone. Unless we’re aggressive about defending the Ministry, I estimate we’ll lose it by the end of next month.”

“Okay,” Sirius sighed. “We’ve got our work cut out for us. Anyone here that wants to join the Aurors, go talk to Kingsley. We need help. That goes for any students that are seventeen. In the meantime, any Order members that feel unsafe in their homes can come speak to us and we’ll send you to a safehouse. We’ve got a few of them that we’re distributing everyone between.”

Bill jumped to his feet before everyone could split up. “Actually, real quick, I’ve got an announcement! Next month, on July 31st, Fleur and I are getting married. You’re all invited!”

There was a somewhat subdued round of congratulations as the group broke up, either to talk about the wedding, sign up for Auror training, or ask about asylum. While her brothers took care of that, Cassiopeia grabbed Draco and slipped out of the room with him. They made their way up the stairs to a bedroom that had runes covering the door and windows. After removing the wards on the door, they stepped inside. 

“ _Black_ ,” Millicent hissed, glaring at both of them. “Where the hell am I?”

“Calm down,” Cassiopeia put her hand up while Draco closed the door and put the runes back up. “Millicent, I didn’t do this to hurt you. I did this because the castle was taken by Death Eaters, and I _know_ you’re better than them. I want to help you - I want to help your family.”

Millicent scoffed at her, crossing her arms over her chest. Her wand was abandoned on the bed, deemed useless against the wards surrounding the room. “Are you kidding me, Black? I’m supposed to trust you? It’s no secret you and your little friends created a group to fight us. I’m probably here to be- be tortured for information.”

Cassiopeia’s eyes darkened slightly. “No, you aren’t. That’s what Voldemort does. You’re here because I think- I _hope_ you’re redeemable. I took you from the castle to help you. Besides, no offense, but I don’t think you can tell me anything that I don’t already know.” 

“Black, let me out of here,” Millicent hissed, stepping closer. Cassiopeia didn’t move, much to her frustration. “Damn it! What is the bloody point of this? I have better things to be doing than sitting in- where am I, exactly?”

“In my house,” she glanced around the room. “Honestly, I should’ve talked with you last night. Did Maria bring you dinner and breakfast?”

“Get to the point,” Millicent crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the cousins. “What do you want from me?”

“I _want_ you to give us all the information you have on Voldemort’s control over your family.”

“ _Why_?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Because we’re going to help you, Bulstrode. Cassie got it in her head that you’re not a lost cause, so don’t waste our time.”

“Draco,” Cassiopeia shot him a glare before looking back at her old roommate. “I do want to help you, okay? I know Voldemort’s got some sort of control over your family and I know exactly how horrible it is to live without one.”

Millicent cursed under her breath. “I don’t know what you expect me to say, Black. I know they’ve got my family in one of their bases. Not Malfoy Manor, but one of the smaller bases. My brother, Declan, didn’t come back from Christmas. He’s fifteen, Black. Save him and I’ll stay here. Save my mother too, and I’ll join you. If you can’t do either of those things, let me out of here so I can go get them.”

“Okay,” Cassiopeia nodded. “Yeah, okay. We’ll find them. What about your dad?”

“Don’t bother. He’ll go right back if you get him out of there.”

“Well… looks like we’ve got work to do,” she glanced at Draco. “Let’s get a few Alliance members together for this. They should get used to fighting now. C’mon, Draco. Millicent, we’ll be back with your mum and Declan."

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

“Okay! So, we need some information on Death Eater hideouts,” Cassiopeia told everyone. The large group started to quiet down as she spoke. “So, Order members, Aurors, do you have anything?”

“Well, it depends what you need,” Diggle shrugged at her. “We know they’re using Malfoy Manor as their base for operations. We don’t know if that’s going to change now that they have Hogwarts. We’re not ready or able to attack Malfoy Manor at the moment. They hold their meetings there and it’s constantly occupied, so-,”

Cassiopeia shot him a glare. “You don’t need to tell _me_ about Malfoy Manor, okay, I’ve been. It’s not a pleasant place, I get it.”

“Cas,” Daphne sighed at her. 

“Fine. What I need to know is other, smaller places they might gather. Mostly, I want to know where they might hold some people that don’t exactly want to be there. Any clues?”

Moody spoke up that time. “After _you_ brutally murdered Rosier-,”

“ _He had a wand to Charlie’s face_ -,”

“Exactly why you should’ve backed down! Weasley should be dead with the stunt you pulled!” 

Cassiopeia bristled and shifted on her feet, trying to stamp down the frustration building up in her. The Alliance didn’t know just how badly she’d messed up that day, and she’d never planned to tell them. “Do you have a _point_?”

“Rosier’s house is being used to hold prisoner types,” he summed up with a grunt. “Why?”

“How heavily is it guarded?”

“Two Death Eaters on the outside, only two on the inside that we’ve counted, plus whoever it’s holding,” Kingsley took over. “What’re you thinking, Black?”

Cassiopeia looked out at the Alliance, scanning them before she nodded. “Neville, Luna, Ginny, and Ron, you’ll be going with Theo, Daphne, Astoria, and… _Blaise_ to Rosier’s house. Inside, I believe you’ll find Declan Bulstrode as well as Lady Bulstrode. We need to get them out and back here, but under no circumstances will you bring Lord Bulstrode with you."

“Maybe the Order should handle this,” Doge suggested. “I mean, you can’t just jump straight into the fight.”

“Why not?” Luna wondered. 

“Seriously, we’ve been preparing for this for a while now,” Ginny agreed. “I am just itching to punch a Death Eater. We can do this- we’re _going_ to do this.”

“No, you are not!” Molly got to her feet, immediately upset. “You are underage, Ginerva, and I forbid you to do this!” 

“Mum!” 

“No, I won’t have it. You will not leave this Manor.”

Cassiopeia sighed and pursed her lips. “Molly, would you feel better if Charlie or Bill joined them?”

Molly scoffed angrily. “You want to put four of my children in danger? This is a _war_ , Cassiopeia! They could be killed!”

“ _Don’t you think I know that_ ?” Cassiopeia yelled back. “Crice’s sake, I _know_ , Molly! The number of times I’ve nearly been killed-,”

“That’s all well and good, but these are my _kids_.”

“Mum, don’t say that,” Ginny snapped. “Cassie’s been through hell, you’d rather she do this all on her own?”

“Yes!” 

Cassiopeia clenched her fists at her side. “ _Fine_. Michael, Susan, you guys go with Neville and Luna.”

“Is there a reason we’re saving the family of a known Death Eater?” Moody asked her. She didn’t bother resisting the urge to roll her eyes. 

“Yes.”

“Are you going to tell us?”

“Because they are not at fault for Lord Bulstrode’s actions, okay? Besides, Millicent undoubtedly has information we could use, and she isn’t going to give that to us unless we get her mother and brother back here safely.”

“Alright,” Sirius nodded. “Well, we’ve got our first mission for now. Let’s set up a backup team in case they need help. Cas, Regulus, you guys get them ready to head out.”

“No,” Molly said before they could break apart from the greater group. Cassiopeia had already turned around to walk away, and froze as the woman spoke. “No, I think, before anything else, we deserve to know- are you going to make our kids fight? Put them all in danger?”

Cassiopeia grit her teeth. She stared at the ground, willing herself not to snap. “Molly, we’ve been through this.”

“It’s just- they’re my _kids_. My babies. I don’t want them to get hurt.”

To everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t Cassiopeia that snapped. It was Sirius. “What, you think I want Cassie to get hurt? You think it doesn’t fucking _kill_ me that my baby sister has been- _fuck_ , I don’t even _know_ what they’ve done to her! You think I don’t want to take her and flee to America until this bullshit is over? I lost my best friends to this. I lost a man that was like my brother, and a woman that was a sister to me, to this fucking war. I bloody well _know_ how dangerous this war is, but I also know that- that this is it. Too many of us died last time, Molly. I know you lost Fabian and Gideon, and I’m _sorry_. But that doesn’t mean that you can stop your kids from fighting. If they don’t fight- if all of these kids here right now don’t fight, then there’s no point to fighting at all, because we will lose.”

“He’s right, Mum,” Ron told the wide-eyed woman, not quite as gently as he intended. “I know you’re scared. I’m gonna- I mean… Cassiopeia told us what they did to her. Probably not all of it, but…” he looked back at the woman, who had spun around when Sirius started speaking. She stood with Sirius’s arm around her shoulder, holding her to his side tightly. “But she told us a lot about what they can do to a person. Honestly, I don’t know how she’s standing or- like, sane.”

“Point, Ron,” Harry nudged his friend. “Fast.”

“Oh, right. My point is, shit happens. But what we’re doing is fighting for the next generation. Whenever we start having kids of our own, we’re fighting for them. We’ll probably get hurt, but we’re also gonna win. With them organizing us, I’d bet we’re going to win with pretty few losses.”

“Yeah, and you can’t stop us,” Ginny added with a shrug. “I’ll get out to fight no matter what. Fighting about it is just gonna upset you more.”

Molly didn’t reply, which was probably for the best. Setting that small argument aside, they turned to organizing and planning the trip to Rosier’s house. 

* * *

**June 14th, 1997**

**Potter Manor**

Cassiopeia opened the door and walked in, tense. Once everyone was in the room, she slammed the door shut and spun around to stalk over to the fifteen-year-old boy. “What the _hell_ was that?”

“It wasn’t my fault,” he argued immediately, reaching for his pocket. “She’s _fine_!” 

“No, she isn’t! She’s now got a hell of a scar spanning her entire left side! Tell me right now why I shouldn’t send all of you back out there!”

Millicent surged forward, placing herself between Cassiopeia and her brother. “Because we can help, Black. We’ve got information you can use. Give us protection and we’ll give you information. Hell, I’ll fight with you.”

Cassiopeia grit her teeth and took in some deep breaths. “Fine. There’s a meeting tomorrow. You can stay here. We’ve got a few rooms left. Millicent, Declan, you’ll join the Alliance. Lady Bulstrode, I’ll get you in touch with the Potter Alliance. I can say the Black family will back you, but I can’t say if everyone else will.”

“Thank you, Miss Black,” Lady Bulstrode bowed her head. She was clearly grateful, and she held the hands of her kids. “What now?”

“ _Now_ , we start breaking down the information you have,” she told them. Her eyes lingered on her classmate. “Millicent?”

“Yes, of course,” the other woman agreed quickly. “I’ll need something to write with. There’s a lot.”

* * *


End file.
